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Story URL: http://www.silicon.com/research/specialreports/thespamreport/0,39025001,39151186,00.htm

Spam king lawsuit makes Microsoft ching ching
$7m Richter settlement off the scale...

By Reuters

Published: Tuesday 09 August 2005

Microsoft said on Tuesday that it had settled a lawsuit against Scott Richter, whom it identified as a former "spam king".

The software giant said that as part of the settlement Richter and his company agreed to pay $7m to Microsoft.

Richter and his company will file a motion on Tuesday to dismiss bankruptcy proceedings they filed in March in the US bankruptcy court in Denver, according to a joint statement by Microsoft and Richter.

A condition of the settlement is dismissal of the bankruptcy cases.

A separate statement from Brad Smith, Microsoft senior vice president and general counsel, said the company will reinvest all of the money, including $5m, which will go to increase internet enforcement efforts and expand technical and investigative support to help law enforcers to address computer-related crimes.

The joint statement said Richter had changed his emailing practices in part because Microsoft and the office of New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer sued him in 2003.

In its lawsuit, Microsoft argued that Richter and his companies violated state and federal law by sending email and helping other people send email.

In the statement, Richter and his company, OptInRealBig.com, denied all allegations.