Online Marketer Sued By Anti-Spam Purveyor
A purveyor of anti-spam services has sued a marketing company for allegedly sending email ads after promising not to do so.
The anti-spam company, Spam Arrest, sells a service that intercepts emails from unfamiliar senders. Spam Arrests asks those senders to fill out a CAPTCHA and also verify that they comply with the company's terms of service, which prohibit unsolicited ads.
The company alleges that the Pennsylvania-based operation MarketingEsquire sent ads to Spam Arrest customers after “repeatedly” verifying that it didn't do so.
“Every time MarketingEsquire sends its undesired and unsolicited commercial to a new Spam Arrest customer, it expressly agrees to Spam Arrest's sender agreement,” the company alleges in its complaint, filed earlier this month in Superior Court in King County, Wash. “Despite having repeatedly manifested consent to the sender agreement, MarketingEsquire continues to send unsolicited commercial email to Spam Arrest's customers.”
Spam Arrest, which charges users $5.95 a month to prevent spam from reaching their in-boxes, contends that the email ads constituted a breach of contract. The company also says it is entitled to $2,000 per violation, because its terms of service contain a clause providing for that amount in damages.
Whether Spam Arrest can prevail, let alone receive $2,000 per email, is not clear.
Eric Goldman, director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University, says judges tend to look at how much economic harm companies have suffered when deciding whether to a damages clause such as the one in the Spam Arrest terms of service. “If it's disproportionate to the quantum of harm, the court might toss it out,” he says.
Recent Online Media Daily Articles
-
Yahoo Search Experiments With New Look May 23, 6:30 p.m.
Yahoo Search has been experimenting with colors, features and layouts, as the company tries to determine ... -
Path Seeks Dismissal Of Wireless-Spam Case May 23, 5:07 p.m.
Mobile social network Path is asking a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that the ... -
Amazon Appstore Goes Global May 23, 4:59 p.m.
Amazon may have been late to the app store game, but that hasn’t stopped it from ... -
Data Is Springboard For Product Development May 23, 4:44 p.m.
iProspect named Ben Wood to global president Thursday; he's tasked with growing the company's network and ... -
Vice, Twitter Partner For Mobile Show May 23, 2:14 p.m.
Simultaneously expanding its video and social strategy, Vice on Thursday unveiled #dailyvice -- a daily show ... -
MediaVest Database Charts Brand Experience, Social Media Impact May 23, 12:11 p.m.
After a year-long research effort, Publicis Groupe’s MediaVest has created a massive database designed to help ... -
Discovery Launches TestTube.com, Ups Digital Video Involvement May 23, 11:27 a.m.
Discovery Communications is looking to get into the digital video platforms in a big way -- ... -
Network Advertising Initiative Proposes New Mobile Privacy Rules May 22, 9:03 p.m.
Moving forward with its plan to issue mobile privacy rules, the self-regulatory group Network Advertising Initiative ... -
Entertainment, Travel Bet On Mobile Banners May 22, 4:16 p.m.
Banner ads have long been the whipping boy of online advertising, and the same is now ... -
Marketers Should Tailor Specific Pitches To Tablet, Smartphone May 22, 2:51 p.m.
Don’t lump tablets in with mobile. That’s the takeaway of a new Forrester study looking at ...
Be the first to comment on "Online Marketer Sued By Anti-Spam Purveyor"
Leave a Comment