Relying on the Restatement (Second) of Torts, the court determined that "a trespass to Chattel may be committed by intentionally using or intermeddling with the chattel in possession of another. The court held that defendants' conduct constituted the tort of trespass to personal property or chattels. As a result, CompuServe commenced suit, seeking, inter alia, injunctive relief to prevent defendants from sending any further unsolicited e-mail. Defendants refused to voluntarily cease sending the e-mail, and took steps to evade the technological blocks CompuServe had put in place. CompuServe also took technological steps to prevent defendants' e-mail from reaching its clientele. As a result, and because the volume of e-mail sent by defendants placed a significant burden on plaintiff's computer equipment (which has a finite processing and storage capacity), CompuServe demanded that defendants stop sending any further e-mail. Numerous subscribers complained that they did not want to receive this e-mail. Subscribers thereafter had the ability to access this mail. To effectuate such communications, defendants utilized CompuServe's computer network, where the unsolicited e-mail was stored, and the subscriber informed of its arrival.
On the net, this practice is referred to as "spamming." Amongst others, defendants sent their advertisements to subscribers of CompuServe. In this case, the court issued a preliminary injunction enjoining defendants, inter alia, from sending unsolicited advertisements via e-mail to any CompuServe subscriber.ĭefendants are engaged in the business of sending unsolicited "junk e-mail" to users.
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