AOL Wins Order Blocking Junk E-Mailer

America Online has won a court order blocking bulk e-mails from a company accused of bombarding the online service’s members with pornography and hiding behind bogus return addresses. A federal court in Alexandria, Va., barred Las Vegas-based Over the Air Equipment from sending any unsolicited e-mail, known as “spam,” to AOL members. The preliminary injunction took effect immediately. In Las Vegas, the phone number for Over the Air Equipment was disconnected. AOL filed suit in federal court Oct. 2, charging that Over the Air Equipment’s e-mails offered pornography over the World Wide Web. The lawsuit also alleges that Over the Air Equipment used the AOL trademark without permission. Dulles, Va.-based AOL has about 9 million subscribers.