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Digital Daily by John Paczkowski

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All posts tagged ‘court’

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Boardroom Blitz?

Posted at 11:00 AM PT

Comment Tagged: court, legal, shares, Open Handset Alliance, merger, negotiations, proxy fight, investors, judgment, LiMo, spamford Wallace, MySapce, Verizon Wireless, handset, Android, MySpace, Mozilla, Yahoo, Firefox, Internet, Microsoft, Linux, spam, Carl Icahn, John Paczkowski, Digital Daily Live, OS, mobile, Google | permalink

Can’t Catch Me… I’m the Generic C!@lis Man

spam.jpgThe hammer has fallen once again on Stanford “Spamford” Wallace. A federal judge in Los Angeles yesterday awarded MySpace a $230 million judgment against Wallace who, with partner Walter Rines, broadcast some 730,000 junk messages to MySpace members in October of 2006.

The judgment is believed to be the largest anti-spam award to date. Not that it really matters, because MySpace (NWS) is unlikely to collect it. Wallace–who was by some estimates responsible for 80% of the spam on the Net back in his heyday–has rarely paid the judgments against him. Moreover, he has a bad habit of disappearing at the first sign of legal trouble.

And that appears to be exactly what he’s done here. Because the $230 million award given MySpace in this case is a default judgment meted out after Wallace failed to appear in court. “It is … a defendant’s responsibility to respond to discovery, obey court orders and avoid dilatory tactics,” the court wrote in its order. “Taking all of the above factors into account, a default is appropriate. The court finds that Wallace’s noncompliance is due to willfulness, fault or bad faith. … Wallace has had every opportunity to avoid the sanction of default. (He) has never provided any explanation for his behavior to the court.”

Posted at 6:09 AM PT

Sphere Comment Tagged: Sanford Wallace, spamford Wallace, judgment, award, default, order, legal, MySpace, Internet, spam, John Paczkowski, court, Digital Daily | permalink

Friday, May 9, 2008

Now Go Away or We Shall Taunt You a Second Time

grail.jpgMicrosoft (MSFT) is appealing the $1.38 billion fine given it by the European Commission for failing to comply with a landmark antitrust ruling in what it describes as a “constructive effort to seek clarity from the court.”

By “clarity,” Microsoft means an annulment of the EC’s February decision imposing the fine–the highest ever meted out in an antitrust case. But it’s not likely to get it. At least according to the EC. Said an EC spokesperson: “The commission is confident that its decision to impose the fine is legally sound.”

Translation: No. How’s that for “clarity”?

Posted at 9:45 AM PT

Sphere 1 Comment Tagged: European Union, court, fine, European Commission, John Paczkowski, Microsoft, antitrust, Digital Daily | permalink

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John Paczkowski has been poking fun at the tech industry and the personalities that drive it since 1997. From 1999 to 2007, he wrote the award-winning tech news Web log Good Morning Silicon Valley for the San Jose Mercury News, Silicon Valley's daily newspaper.

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Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.

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