Scott Richter has won a TRO against SpamCop

As we mentioned before, Scott Richter tried to bring a TRO (temporary restriction order) against SpamCop/IronPort. We even alluded to the fact that we didn't feel he stood much of a chance.

Well, we are proven wrong.

E-mail marketer Scott Richter, branded by critics as the "spam king,'' has won a round in a legal battle with a San Bruno anti-spam company.

A U.S. District Court judge in Oakland on Monday ordered SpamCop to temporarily stop reporting complaints about Richter's company, OptinRealBig.com, to Internet service providers. The order is effective until May 20, when the two parties are due in court.

Owned by IronPort Systems, SpamCop offers people a way to report e-mail messages as suspected spam. SpamCop then forwards that information to ISPs, which can block those e-mails from being delivered to their customers.

Richter has filed suit against IronPort, claiming that SpamCop interfered with OptInRealBig's contracts and business relationships, defamed the company and damaged its potential future earnings.

You can find the legal papers here (PDF file via SpamNews.com). Note that supposedly the "Steven S. Richter" that is the lawyer for Scott (and many other e-mail marketing court cases), is his father.

This could definitely get interesting fast.
(note that this doesn't mean he has won the case - this is just a single round in the upcoming suit - but the fact that the judge allowed anything is amazing in my opinion)

Posted by Eric at May 11, 2004 11:45 AM | TrackBack