MySpace wins spam claim against marketer

MySpace can collect $6 million from a notorious Internet marketer accused by the popular online hangout of spamming its users.

An arbitrator has ruled that Scott Richter and his Web marketing company, Media Breakaway of Westminster, Colo., must pay MySpace $4.8 million in damages and $1.2 million in attorney’s fees for barraging MySpace members with unsolicited advertisements. Media Breakaway and its employees were also banned from the site.

MySpace, a unit of News Corp., had alleged that some of the messages were sent from accounts whose sign-on information had been hijacked by “phishing.” Media Breakaway countered that rogue business affiliates -- independent contractors who sent messages for Media Breakaway -- were to blame for phishing and other improper behavior.

In a statement, Media Breakaway celebrated the fact that MySpace had been awarded “95% less than the amount demanded” by the company.

Thursday’s arbitration ruling pales in comparison with a $230-million verdict MySpace won in U.S. District Court last month against two Internet marketers, Sanford Wallace and Walter Rines.

Richter is a familiar figure in such matters. Microsoft Corp. won a $7-million settlement against him in a spam lawsuit in 2005, and the state of New York got $50,000 from Richter the year before.

However, Richter’s father, Steven Richter, who serves as Media Breakaway’s president and general counsel, said Monday that the company had worked harder in recent years to comply. He said Media Breakaway now has five employees tracking its legal compliance, up from one in 2006.

In this case, the elder Richter said, Media Breakaway had misunderstood MySpace’s rules prohibiting commercial messages. “Once they told us it was wrong we threw the iron curtain down on it,” he said.