An Indian Court Relies on the Common Law to Counter Spam

In what may be the first Indian court order on spamming, a judge in New Delhi has ordered a local company to stop jamming an internet services provider based in India. McCoy Infosystems Private (McCoy) was ordered to stop transmission of unsolicited bulk electronic mail to users of an ISP, VSN Limited (VSNL). The plaintiffs alleged that McCoy was intentionally "trespassing" on VSNL's property by sending huge amounts of spam to the latter's users, sufficient to severely degrade VSNL's capacity to function effectively and resulting in slower server speeds and longer response times. According to lawyers for the plaintiffs, since current Indian statues do not address this type of situation, they urged the Court to rely on more traditional common law doctrines of trespass and nuisance. They successfully argued that McCoy's sending of unsolicited bulk e-mails amounted to breaches of the privacy of VSNL and their subscribers. For another report on this case, see: http://makeashorterlink.com/?F6CA22727. Summary by: Peter Wang