With the latest batch of lawsuits, Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft said, it is involved in more than 100 legal cases against spammers. Those cases include more than 70 lawsuits filed in the United States.
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Microsoft said it filed a lawsuit last week in Washington state's King County Superior Court against Web-hosting company National Online Sales and its owner, Levon Gillespie, for offering services advertised as "bulletproof" for those seeking to send marketing e-mail. Microsoft also targeted those who used the services.
Gillespie was not immediately available for comment, and e-mails sent to his company's site were not immediately answered.
Aaron Kornblum, an attorney for Microsoft, said the Web-hosting company, which offers space on computers for serving Web pages and sending e-mail, based its operations in China so the sites would not be shut down.
"This is the first action against a Web host catering to spammers," Kornblum said. "They're providing a safe place for spammers to drive customers to."
The other recent lawsuits filed by Microsoft were against spammers sending unsolicited e-mail.
Kornblum said that by taking legal action, Microsoft is "trying to change the economics of spam" by making it costlier for spammers to continue their activities.
Microsoft has launched a barrage of suits against spammers over the past year in an attempt to curb the spread of unsolicited e-mail pitching everything from get-rich-quick schemes to herbal remedies.
Additionally, in July, a federal court ordered a California man to pay $4 million to Microsoft for allegedly using the software giant's product names fraudulently as part of a spam scheme.
Story Copyright © 2004 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.