03/17/10
Microsoft claims victory in instant message spam case
A nine-month-old legal battle between Microsoft and Hong Kong-based Funmobile has been settled out of court for an undisclosed sum, and the Redmond, Washington-based computing giant appears to be very pleased with the result.
Microsoft associate general counsel Tim Cranton told Softpedia that “under the terms of the agreement, Funmobile will refrain from 'spimming' customers or contacts of Windows Live Messenger and will make a cash payment to Microsoft. The successful resolution of this case sends a clear signal that Microsoft does not tolerate abuse of its networks and we will continue to take action to protect our customers.”
The case grew out of a dispute dating from last summer, in which Microsoft accused Funmobile of using instant messaging spam to trick users into revealing their passwords or personally identifiable information.
ZDNet reports that the company has been very active in court lately, using legal tactics to take down the infamous Waledac botnet, which had been sending spam to untold numbers of internet users. The tech blog notes, however, that some security experts say the legal action was not as effective as Microsoft said at the time.
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