On September 15, a U.S. Federal Judge ordered Spamhaus.org to pay $11.7 million in compensatory damages and issued a permanent injunction against Spamhaus’ email blocking technology. The permanent injunction explicitly prohibits Spamhaus from interrupting e360’s email messages in any way without providing supporting evidence. "Spamhaus shall not take any action to cause email sent by Plaintiffs or their affiliates, subsidiaries, or related companies owned or controlled by Plaintiffs to be blocked, delayed, altered, or interrupted in any way," according to injunction language granted by the court. Spamhaus is currently appealing the judgment, acknowledging the importance of the court's ruling.

Ms. Carrie Fino, attorney for Spamhaus, stated in court Spamhaus is willing to come forward with evidence of e360 spam, provided e360 can show the relationship with its affiliated entities. e360 produced corporate documents within 24 hours of Spamhaus' request made in court. To date, Spamhaus has failed to provide any evidence to the court, not even a single email address, to back up their claim that e360 is a spammer.

"I applaud Mr. Linford for finally deciding to follow U.S. law while conducting business in the United States," said David Linhardt, President & CEO of e360. "For years, Spamhaus has operated in this country with blatant disregard for its laws and for the rights of legitimate companies to conduct lawful business. Finally, Mr. Linford and his gang of irrational Spamhaus vigilantes are being held accountable for their improper actions."

E360's position is that Spamhaus.org is a fanatical, vigilante organization operating in the United States with blatant disregard for U.S. law. In addition, E360 has proven Spamhaus routinely exposes their customers and volunteers to extreme legal risk by continuing to engage in improper blacklisting, defamation, extortion and blackmail in the name of fighting spam.

In response to the court’s judgment, Spamhaus posted several responses on its website and on usenet message boards. “The Illinois ruling, although meaningless for Spamhaus, which as a British organization not subject to Illinois court orders is continuing to list Linhardt's IP addresses on its SBL spam blocklist as usual, the Illinois ruling shows that U.S. courts can be bamboozled by spammers with great ease,” says Steve Linford, Chief Executive of Spamhaus.

Currently, Spamhaus does not list any of e360's ip addresses on its SBL blacklist.

Mr. Linford hired Hinshaw & Culbertson, LLC to represent Spamhaus when the claim was filed by e360. Mr. Linford’s attorney’s then moved the case from state to federal court. On the day Spamhaus was required to provide discovery materials in the case, Mr. Linford, in a panic, fired his attorneys and withdrew from the proceedings. Now, Spamhaus is back in the case trying to appeal the judgment.

"Mr. Linford continues to claim the judgment is meaningless. Yet, he is appealing the judgment, is abiding by the permanent injunction, is disclosing assets for Spamhaus Project LTD and is being forced to disclose assets for Spamhaus Technology LTD," says Linhardt. "At long last, Mr. Linford is starting to understand the implications of the court's ruling in this matter."

E360Insight, LLC (E360) is a permission marketing company focused on cost effective customer acquisition solutions. E360 provides consumers with notification, choice and control as it relates to the receipt of marketing messages. Consumers opt-in to E360’s programs and must meet E360’s confirmation standards in order to receive marketing messages. Once entered, consumers can opt-out to cancel their subscription at any time for any reason. E360’s lines of business include performance email, multi-channel list rental, data licensing and lead generation. By using E360’s marketing solutions, companies can dramatically increase revenue and lower customer acquisition costs.