Interesting Case: Spamhaus
CNET reports Spam fighter hit with $11.7 million judgment
Spamhaus appears unfazed by the ruling. In a statement on its Web site, Spamhaus dismissed the judgment as invalid and charges that the court was “bamboozled by spammers.” Spamhaus didn’t mount a defense in the case; the ruling was a default judgment in absence of counterarguments.
“Default judgments obtained in U.S. county, state or federal courts have no validity in the U.K. and cannot be enforced under the British legal system,” Spamhaus said on its Web site. “As spamming is illegal in the U.K., an Illinois court ordering a British organization to stop blocking incoming Illinois spam in Britain goes contrary to U.K. law which orders all spammers to cease sending spam in the first place.”
Not so sure about Spamhaus’ perceived immunity from recovery by being located in UK. If you happen to know I’d be much obliged.
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Well I would think two things matter:
1. Does Spamhaus have any property ( money etc.) that the US crts can enforce a judgment against?
2. If they don’t and the plaintiff seeks enforcement in a UK court, the UK court will look at the validity of the action. Theoretically no crime/tort was committed in the UK. Kinda like being in a country that allows poligamy. They can’t arrest you in the US if you’ve got 2 wives back home. You didn’t committ the crime/tort here. And most of all I don’t think Spamhaus has a legal obligation to tramsit spam. This would be a great supreme court case though. lot’s of juicy tidbits. Perhaps we should ask Ragazzo and Nimmer on their thoughts!