The
company has filed papers with the Illinois court room saying that
it will fight the case brought against it by email marketing
company e360insight. E360 claims that it is a reputable email
marketing company and sued Spamhaus because it was put on the
'blocklist' which Spamhaus operates in order to identify spammers
and keep their messages out of inboxes.
The judge issued a default ruling in favour of e360 because
Spamhaus did not defend the case. Spamhaus was ordered to stop its
operations in the US if it did not pay the $11.7m awarded against
it.
Spamhaus has now filed an appeal against that decision with the
Illimois court and is reported to be represented by US law firm
Jenner and Block in the case.
Spamhaus's decision to fight the case comes just days after the
Illinois court attempted to have internet address body ICANN
suspend the spamhaus.org domain and take the site down. Though
ICANN said it did not have the authority to do that it said that
the address's hosting company would. Spamhaus's hosting company is
in Canada.
The move represents a change of strategy by Spamhaus, which has
only once recognised a court case in the US, Spamhaus founder Steve
Linford told OUT-LAW Radio recently. On that occasion the company
suing Spamhaus took no further part in the suit once Spamhaus opted
to defend it, he said.
"Because we get this from all over the world we don't defend
ourselves in foreign courts," Linford told OUT-LAW Radio last
month. "We tell them 'if you want to sue us come to Britain'.
None of them ever have because Britain has 'loser pays'."
"The spammer files in his local Court, part of the filing says
Spamhaus is a US business, doing business in this State, the Judge
doesn't question it and he says well where are Spamhaus, why didn't
they turn up to defend themselves?" said Linford. "They couldn't be
bothered, so the judgement – they owe you $2 million, and this sort
of thing goes on and on."
An e360 statement maintains that Spamhaus is " is a fanatical,
vigilante organization that operates in the United States with
blatant disregard for U.S. law". Spamhaus could not be reached for
confirmation at the time of publication.
