Plaintiff, who registered "nobody@localhost.com", received over 7000 "bounced back" and reply emails when spammer placed "nobody@localhost.com" in the "from" and "reply to" path fields in a bulk emailing. Plaintiff brought action against mortgage company that hired spammer. Granting summary judgment for defendant mortgage company, the court held that the spammer was an independent contractor, and therefore the mortgage company was not responsible for the spammer's actions. The court also granted summary judgment for the plaintiff in relation to the mortgage company's counterclaims of false light invasion of privacy, various RICO claims, and defamation arising out of plaintiff's Web site devoted to publicizing the lawsuit. The court noted that developing a legal theory to hold advertisers responsible for spamming would be more effectively addressed in the legislative area.
Complaint at http://legal.web.aol.com/decisions/dljunk/seidlcomp.html
Keywords: Spam
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