Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Anti-SPAM Ruling: Maryland Federal Jury Decides that Beyond Systems, Inc. is Not a Bona Fide ISP


I have handled cases defending companies and individuals being accused of sending SPAM emails.  The usual plaintiff company was Beyond Systems, Inc.  Beyond Systems claimed that it was an interactive service provider (ISP) and that it was negatively affected by SPAM emails.  The cases I handled were for small companies and individuals that lacked sufficient resources to defend the cases – so the cases were settled (relatively inexpensively) in order to avoid paying what would have been substantial legal fees to defend the cases through trial.

In the very good news for the world category: someone finally had enough financial resources to defend one of these cases all the way through to trial, and last month a jury in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland ruled that Beyond Systems was not an ISP.  If Beyond is not an ISP under the Maryland Act (MCEMA), then it should not be entitled to bring any cases against alleged spammers under a Gordon v. Virtumundo case.  (I cited the Virtumundo case to the same Court in 2007, but on a preliminary motion, which the Court denied.  I blogged about the issues here: Previous Blog Post)

From here, the Court will now decide whether or not the case may proceed at all given the jury’s finding.  Hopefully, this is the end for Beyond Systems' and its owner’s extortionate litigation tactics.

Lawyers at Venable defended the case for Connexus Corp.  Their news release about the case is here: Venable News Release.

The Washington Post wrote about the case here: Washington Post Article.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Thousands of Collection Suits Dismissed by Maryland District Court

The District Court of Maryland, Maryland's court of general jurisdiction in civil cases up to $30,000.00, dismissed 3,564 collection cases on Tuesday after reaching a settlement with the debt collection agencies involved.  The State will also receive $1 million.

The settlement came after the State had claimed that the the collection agencies violated state and federal laws and submitted false or misleading documentation with the courts.

Press Release