AOL seeks damages in spam case

The company's litigation isn't stopping for Christmas...

AOL's anti-spam campaigning has moved up a notch, with the company seeking an injunction and punitive damages against a Californian man it accuses of sending millions of messages to its customers. Michael Persaud is being sued in Virginia, and is accused of "digital trespassing" and fraud. AOL claims he has been operating since March 1997 under the names of James Butterfield, Henry Summers and Brian Crawford, offering a home employment directory and a survival guide for home workers. A key part of AOL's case is the accusation that he used AOL's domain on the messages so that they looked like they were approved by the company. In a series of recent lawsuits AOL seems to have been trying to establish legal precedents in this and similar areas in order to define a legal framework for dealing with spam.