Spamhaus to Ignore $11.7M Judgement

6031769 writes, "As reported on CNet, Spamhaus is choosing to ignore a judgement of $11.7M against them in an uncontested trial in an Illinois court. According to Spamhaus, the judgement has no impact on them, since they are a British organization." From the Spamhaus reply to the judgment: "Default judgments obtained in US county, state or federal courts have no validity in the UK and can not be enforced under the British legal system... As spamming is illegal in the UK, an Illinois court ordering a British organization to stop blocking incoming Illinois spam in Britain goes contrary to UK law which orders all spammers to cease sending spam in the first place."

Comments

Re:Good for Spamhaus

[R2.0]

So let me get this straight.:

1) Generally recognized spammer files suit against Spamhaus, a British based company.
2) Spamhaus does business in the US, and therefor that portion of the business is subject to US law, including the jurisdiction of the courts. (everything rides on this)
3) Spamhaus totally ignores a pending legal action against them in a court which has jurisdiction over them.
4) Court enters default judgement in accordance with hundreds of years of legal precedent, including *English* common law.
5) Spamhaus is now open to the court seizing their US assets to pay the judgement, and an injunction against doing business in the US, enforceable under Federal law by US Marshals.

How is this smart? If they had simply responded to the lawsuit, this probably would have been over in a heartbeat. Instead, they are basically thumbing their noses at a legal system that they believe is beneath their consideration.

(Cue "US legal system sucks, blah, blah, blah))