Juno Declares Victory in Spam Suits, Files More

Ad-backed email service Juno Online Services said two spammers that it sued last year have settled and will pay damages.

Under the settlement, Phoenix Interactive of Hermosa Beach, CA, and Global Information Services of Clearwater, FL, will enter consent decrees–court orders–barring them from using or “forging” Juno email addresses, and will pay an undisclosed amount to Juno in monetary damages, the company said.

At the same time, Juno announced that it has filed a second federal lawsuit, this time seeking damages against three additional defendants it believes have forged the Juno name onto unsolicited commercial email.

The new suit, seeking $1 million in punitive damages, names Zip Marketing of Southfield, MI (described as an entity that sells bulk email addresses to facilitate the transmission of spam by others); TCPS Inc. of Brooklyn, NY ( described as a seller of sexually explicit videotapes); and Internet Product Distributors Inc. of Las Vegas, (described as an entity that offers audiotapes claiming to teach subliminal seduction of women).

“When a spammer hides behind Juno’s name and reputation in order to deceive the recipients of his message, it is an act of cowardice,” said Charles Ardai, Juno’s president. “This is a universally reviled practice and, in our view, a violation of federal law.”