« Hijacked by spammers | Main | The price of buying from spammers »

March 16, 2005

Cruisin' for a legal bruisin'

An anti-spammer in Oklahoma is being sued for defamation after he publicly ridiculed a travel company for spamming him.

Mark Mumma announced today that Cruise.com (aka Omega World Travel) has filed suit against him in federal court in Virginia. The travel company has asked the court for an injunction and over $4,000,000 in damages.

The lawsuit stems from legal threats Mumma made to Cruise.com last January. He threatened to sue the company under Oklahoma's anti-spam law after it failed to honor his unsubscribe requests. According to court papers, Mumma offered to settle his suit for $6,250.

To chronicle the case, Mumma created a page about Cruise.com at his site SueASpammer.com, where he publishes information about a handful of similar anti-spam lawsuits he has filed.

Cruise.com apparently didn't appreciate Mumma's site, especially the cartoon rabbit in prison clothing standing above the Cruise.com logo.

Some observers on the Nanae anti-spam newsgroup nearly predicted this train wreck would happen. In January, after Mumma posted a message announcing media coverage of his site, one newsgroup participant warned that "Those who jump into suing ... with ill-thought-out tactics risk doing more harm than good, and are advised to tread carefully, coordinate tactics, and not always jump after the easy fruit."

Posted by brian at March 16, 2005 10:21 AM