Spam case - Virgin settles out of court

The writ against Surrey businessman Adrian Paris who was charged with spamming Virgin Net customers in April was settled out of court last week. Mr Paris has agreed not to open any more Virgin accounts or to send unsolicited emails to Virgin Net customers. He will pay £5000 in costs.

Trading under the company name ProPhoto, Paris sent out bulk junk mail to thousands of Virgin Net customers who complained en masse about the spam.

Virgin Net business development director David Johnson said that although the case will be seen by many as a test case he wanted the case to go to court "to set a clear precedent for the future".

"The case sends a clear and strong message to would-be spammers and raises the profile of this issue which will have to be addressed by the courts or the Government soon," he said.