MoFo Sues Spammer

Ed Cherlin writes: "A press release on PR Newswire states that Morrison & Foerster, aka MoFo, is suing Etracks of Belmont CA under California law for continuing to spam MoFo's e-mail clients after proper legal notification to stop, and for failing to put ADV: or ADV:ADLT in the subject line. MoFo asks for an injunction and legal costs in addition to statutory damages ($50/spam up to $25,000/day). More than 6,500 messages were received after the notification was delivered, so that comes to $325,000 on the first count, plus fees. MoFo lawyers get what? $500/hour? More?"

All I can say is, Good Luck.

[Bob_Robertson]

I think the efforts to prosecute moron spammers are great things. I loath spam, and I look forward to its passing the same way I wait for trucks with loudspeakers blaring to pass.

I know Washington state chose to pass another split-hair law defining "spam" as illegal, rather than just use the same laws that keep Jehovas Witnesses, door to door salesmen, and other such things out of your way. I consider my email server to be exactly like my front porch: If you are there when I have explicitly stated you are not welcome, you are guilty of trespassing.

People I don't know can still come to my door and get my attention, but if I say "go away" and they don't, or if they then come back, such actions have been prosecutable for a thousand years.

Anyway, Gambatte! To make money, spammers have to provide some form of actual contact information. The sender or the one being advertized, or both, deserve to be slapped back.

Bob-

good for them!

[NaturePhotog]

Good for them! It's a good case, since both Mofo and the spammers are in California, and there are state laws that apply. I wonder if anyone at Mofo got the spam from candidate for governor Rep. Bill Jones [slashdot.org]. Maybe they can sue him, too.

Lawyers bill at different rates, but I'd guess about $500/hour if they get a partner to bill the hours, less if it's an associate. But they're a big firm, so they could put a lot of lawyers on it.

I guess lawyers are finally getting through the backlog of .com bankruptcies, and are looking for other work to keep them busy :-)

Re:ha -- lawyers

[www.sorehands.com]

It does not really matter what the MoFo lawyers get. Well, maybe, sort of. The Mofo lawyer cost would only be applicable as far as establishing damages beyond the statutory amounts, but to do that, they will have to open up their billing records to the SPAMMERS.

The firm that is handling the case for MoFo will get paid attorney fees from the SPAMMERs. A plaintiff cannot get paid for their time in prosecuting a lawsuit.

Re:What's "mofo" mean?

[Anthy]

As far as I know, "mofo" stands for, excuse me for this bit of swearing, "motherfucker".

Re:What's "mofo" mean?

[jawad]

Dude, do you want a MORE obvious troll? Jeez!

MoFo and scientology

[GCU Friendly Fire]

I don't know much about MoFo except that the last time I heard about them was when they took on the Dennis Erlich case pro bono. Dennis, the BBS he used, and the ISP Netcom that the BBS used for connectivity, were all sued under copyright and trade secrets law by the Scientology cult when Dennis posted some cult "scriptures" that read more like science fiction.

Somebody had to fight for the public interest in that case, and MoFo stepped up to the plate. Good guys.