Spam Act Claims First Scalp

The operative parts of the Spam Act 2003 (Cth) came into effect on 10 April 2004. Almost exactly 2 years later, the Federal Court in Perth has handed down the first judgement arising from substantive proceedings under the Act.

In the case of Australian Communications and Media Authority v Clarity1 Pty Ltd and Mansfield [2006] FCA 410, the respondents were a company which traded as "Business Seminars Australia" and its sole director, Wayne Mansfield, who represented himself and the company at trial.

The ACMA commenced proceedings in 2005 alleging that the respondents had sent in excess of 200 million unsolicited emails in contravention of the Act. The messages had been sent to addresses obtained with address harvesting software, which is a separate breach of the Act. It was not suggested that the messages themselves were misleading or deceptive.