Global restraining order against spammer is made permanent

On 6th October, in a case brought on behalf of California e-mail service Friendly Email, the US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia permanently forbid Benchmark Print Supply and its owner Sam Khuri from sending any unsolicited commercial e-mail to any internet users and from engaging in a host of other improper e-mail related activities, including spoofing (falsifying the originating address of their e-mails) and cloaking (otherwise attempting to disguise the e-mails' true source).

The injunction also requires Khuri and Benchmark to abide by the applicable Terms Of Service in relation to any e-mail accounts they obtain from ISPs or other e-mail services, most of which expressly forbid any use of such accounts in relation to the sending of spam.

”This is a great victory. I am elated that I was able to deliver on my promise to free the internet from the grips of Khuri and his egregious e-mails,” said Paul F. “Pete” Wellborn III, the lawyer who represented Friendly Email in the case. Mr Wellborn is now referring to himself as “The Spammer Hammer.”

Until the entry in this case of a temporary restraining order by the court last month, Benchmark and Khuri were among the most prolific spammers in the US, periodically bombarding Internet users with hundreds of thousands of unsolicited e-mails advertising their printer supplies and toner cartridges.

Key to Friendly Email's victory in the case was an order against Khuri and Benchmark obtained earlier this year by Mr Wellborn in a separate case brought on behalf of BiblioTech, Ltd., a London-based e-mail service also “victimised” by Khuri. The order required Khuri and Benchmark to honour all “opt-out” requests from the recipients of their e-mails who wished to be removed from Khuri's mailing lists. The Consent Order also forbade Khuri and Benchmark from spoofing or cloaking and established a lowered burden of proof against them in any subsequent action alleging a breach of the Consent Order. Finally, the order deemed all internet users to be “express third-party beneficiaries,” thus allowing Friendly Email to sue under the Consent Order even though it had not been a party to the earlier case.