America Online, Inc. v. LCGM, Inc.
46 F.Supp.2d 444
In the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
Case Number Civ.A. 98-102-A
Before District Judge Lee
Decided on November 10, 1998

Relevancy of the Case: Seeking damages for using AOL’s server for sending spam emails

Statutes and Provisions Involved

• The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1030
• The Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1125
• The Virginia Computer Crimes Act, Va. Code § 18.2-152.3

Relevant Facts of the Case

• The plaintiff, America Online (AOL), complained that the defendants sent a large number of unauthorised and unsolicited bulk email advertisements to AOL users.
• The defendant has admitted to sending over 300,000 emails daily at various intervals from their Michigan offices. It has also admitted to maintaining AOL accounts and using AOL collector and extractor programs to collect emails of AOL users.
• This matter is before the court on the plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment for each of the seven counts in the complaint. The plaintiff seeks compensatory and punitive damages, attorney’s fees, costs, and permanent injunctive relief.

Prominent Arguments by the Counsels

• The plaintiff’s counsel contended that the defendant’s actions injured AOL by consuming capacity on its computers. As a result, it incurred technical costs in maintaining the functioning of its email system and upgrading its computer networks to process authorised emails. AOL received over 450,000 complaints from its users for unsolicited emails.

Opinion of the Bench

• Undisputed facts establish the defendant’s violation of the provisions mentioned above. The defendant’s actions also constituted a trespass to chattels under Virginia common law.

Final Decision

• The court decided in favour of the plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment in all counts except one with disputed facts. Further, the court decided that the correct assessment of damages would happen during the trial.