Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) has been awarded $3 million in damages in its case against social network Spammer Power Ventures and its CEO, Steve Vachani. Judge Lucy H. Koh of the United States District Court, San Jose Division issued the order on Wednesday, on the case that dates back to 2008.
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) will receive $50 for each of the 60,627 spam messages, totaling $3,031,350 in damages.
About the case
In the case, Power Venutres and its CEO were accused and found guilty of sending 60,627 spam email messages to Facebook users.
Power Ventures started a Power 100 campaign to boost its launch. Under the campaign, users were given $100 if they invited and signed up new users, according to court documents. A list was provided to users, carrying names of Facebook friends, to whom the invitation was to be sent. Power.com sent misleading emails to the user’s friends with “@facebookmail.com” in the ‘from’ field, including a line indicating the message was from “The Facebook Team.”
The case was filed in the year 2008, and initially Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) won the verdict on February 16, 2012 in an order by Judge James Ware. After Power Venture filed bankruptcy the case was closed only to open later when the bankruptcy filing was dismissed.
Facebook granted permanent injunction
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) was also granted an injunctive relief by Judge Koh. It is a moral victory of Facebook over the miscreants. The court has also placed a permanent injunction against Vachani and Power Ventures, which implies that subsidiaries or associated companies cannot indulge in any such practices and Power Venture should destroy all software, scripts and any Facebook data they obtained.
Comments from the parties involved
Craig Clark, associate general counsel for Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), said in a statement to CNET, “We are pleased with today’s ruling awarding over $3 million in damages and injunctive relief.” Clark said that the company will exercise its rights against any bad actors who want to dent Facebook’s image and exploit its users.
Steven Vachani, chief executive officer of Power Ventures, said that Facebook has set a dangerous model for the future of users’ rights to own and control their data, saying that the company will continue to fight this.
The case is Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) v. Power Ventures Inc., 08CV5780, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Jose).
