DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY - Microsoft has filed a suit against a company in Germany that it alleges is at the center of a network of companies in the U.S. and Ukraine distributing unsolicited e-mail.
The company, which is registered in the state of North Rhine Westphalia, is the source of millions of unsolicited e-mail messages, or spam, Microsoft said Monday in a statement issued on its German-language Web site.
Microsoft declined to disclose the name of the company.
The English-language spam messages promote companies offering Web site design and development services, in addition to online casinos and pornographic Internet sites, according to Microsoft. Some users of Microsoft's Hotmail service have received thousands of unwanted advertising messages from Internet companies located in North Rhine Westphalia, the U.S. software company said.
The owner of the company at the center of the spam ring operates numerous Web sites, which he uses to send unsolicited e-mail for a fee or to sell addresses, according to Microsoft.
The owner, who now resides in Germany after having lived for a long time in the U.S., denies the allegations, claiming his partners are out of control, Microsoft said.
Whether Microsoft can halt the flow of spam spewing from companies in Germany remains to be seen, however. Currently, the country has no law against spam distribution.
To sidestep this legislative hole, Microsoft is seeking an injunction to shut down the alleged spammer in North Rhine Westphalia under German fair-trade laws.
