1. II
I
I
multl-user licence please contact Alan Mowa~ on 1-44 20 7234 0606
li' This printed article '11ay ,)ot be photocopied a:"1d ,::, for lhe exclusive use of Ms Erice>Ioki. r:or êi
I
I October 21 2002 - Brazil
I $tate treasury court edges closer to defining 'spam'
I
I The State Treasury Court of Porto Alegre has lifted an injunction against a joumalist's internet
service provider (ISP), Procergs, which allowed him to continue distributing a daily newsletter to over
11,000 people via emai!. The court disagreed with Diego Casagrande's argument that his newsletter
could not be c1assified legally as spam.
Procergs decided to restrict the indiscriminate delivery of emails in response to complaints from
users, duly notifying its customers about the change in policy. Casagrande then obtained an
injunction, which stated that Procergs had no right to restriet the delivery of his newsletters via the
Internet.
Judge Martin Schulze of the state treasury court revoked the injunction, ruling that Procergs's
decision to stop the delivery of Casagrande's newsletter did not constitute a restriction of journalist
activities. The court also disagreed with Casagrande's contention that the e-newsletter could not be
c1assified as spam since Brazilian law does not offer a definition of 'spam'. The court felt that
Casagrande's emails were unsolicited - an essential element of the internationally recognized
definition of 'spam' (unsolicited, commercial email).
This decision is a radical break from previous case law, which found that unsolicited emails were a
legitimate part of any healthy marketing scheme (see First Brazilian decision on spam takes wrong
turn).
Erica Aoki, Stroeter, Royster & Ohno Advogados - Advogados Associated wffh Steel Hector & Davis
LLP, São Paulo
© Copyright 2004 - 2008
Globe Business Publishing Ltd