KARLSRUHE, Germany – In a ruling that Microsoft officials hope has set a precedent for future German spam cases, the Intermediate Court of Appeals in Karlsruhe has found a German spammer guilty of infringing on Microsoft trademarks and ordered the man to surrender data, pay damages, and cease sending unsolicited email.According to a report published by heise.de online, the man is a resident of Schleswig-Holstein and was charged with initiating multiple spam campaigns over a period of approximately six months, primarily to promote adult sites he operates. The man is not identified by name in any published articles related to the case.

Although Germany does not have anti-spam laws on the books, Microsoft contended that by using forged email addresses from Hotmail, a registered trademark of Microsoft, the accused had violated the company’s trademarks in some of his bulk messages.

The man denied being responsible for sending the emails in question, but the court disagreed, ruling that the accused was indeed responsible for the spam and thereby the accompanying violation of Microsoft trademarks.

Under the ruling, the accused now faces a fine of up to 250,000 euros if he again sends spam using forged Hotmail addresses. He must also provide Microsoft with data relating to his past email campaigns, and pay unspecified damages to the company for the spam sent from the forged Hotmail addresses, as well as damages for the spam received by Hotmail addresses as a result of his campaigns.

Citing unnamed Microsoft sources, PCAdvisor.co.uk reports that the company believes the ruling has set a precedent for charging future offenders with violating the company’s marks, and assessing damages in penal court.

Hitherto, spammers residing in Germany only could be sued in civil court and charged with “unfair competition,” according to heise.de. Microsoft hopes the ruling in this case has established the misappropriation of brands and trademarks by spammers a prosecutable offense in Germany, even without the presence of a German law prohibiting the act of spamming, itself.