Lawyer’s Spam Fighting Idea Backfires

A Washington lawyer had an idea. He wanted to sue spammers but since the CAN-SPAM law allows only ISPs to do so, he decided to become an ISP. He set up a domain and gave email accounts to his friends and family. When emailed, the accounts sent an auto-response that claimed the sender would either agree to stop spamming or pay $500 per spam message. The lawyer, James Gordon, then sued email marketing firm Virtumundo for $10 million dollars claiming damages under the CAN-SPAM Act.

Gordon lost. The court rejected his suit, saying it was without merit because he had not been able to show proof he had suffered harm or been adversely affected as a result of the spam. He was ordered to pay Virtumundo over $100,000 in damages. He refused to pay and the firm promptly sued and ended up sending the debt to a collections agency. That agency in turn showed up at Gordon’s house and seized his possessions. Virtumundo offered to return them if he agreed to drop his appeal.

Gordon refused.

Before you feel sorry for him, it’s important to note that although he claims to be a lawyer, his sole source of income for 2006 and 2007 was from “settlements and disputes”.

The moral of the story? Don’t try and get around a law, because it just might backfire horrendously.