Friday, October 31 2003

Press Release

SOURCE: The Law Offices of John L. Fallat

Hypertouch® Inc. settles action against Link It Software Over spam

FOSTER CITY, Calif., Oct. 31 -- Foster City based Hypertouch, Inc. has settled its action under California's anti-spamming statute against Link It Software. (Case No. CIV426832)

Hypertouch filed this lawsuit as a class action. However, this settlement has been reached before the proceeding was certified as a class action. Therefore, the rights and available remedies of any other recipient of Link It Software UCE/spam have not been curtailed. Indeed, the settlement includes an Order from the Court granting Hypertouch an injunction against Link It Software that applies for email sent by Link It Software to anyone until October 23, 2006. Link It Software agrees to stipulate to an Order, granted October 23, 2003, of the San Mateo Superior Court granting an injunction against Link It Software as follows:

  1. Link It Software shall not send unsolicited e-mail ("UCE") without complying with Business & Professions Code Sections 17538.4 and 17538.45, and any and all new laws that replace or redefine said statutes for three (3) years;
  2. Link It Software will consider SMTP banners (containing "UCE" or "unsolicited" or "spam") as sufficient actual notice under B&P Section 17538.45;
  3. Link It Software agrees to purge its current e-mail lists within ninety (90) days. "Purge" is defined as after 90 days, Link It Software will send no e-mail without an audit trail in that e-mail as to where the e-mail address of that e-mail was obtained, Link It Software will include full contact information in any future e-mails, and the From line address must be from Link-It Corporation with its California corporate address or from a registered or recorded dba of said corporation with a California address;
  4. future lists of the Link It Software after 90 days will have an audit trailer. Audit trails must contain the date and full URL of the webpage or post where the e-mail address was harvested. If the address was opt-in or a purchase list, then the audit trail must contain the date of opt-in, and URL of opt-in form and IP address of the address owner's machine. If the opt-in or harvesting was non-electronic, a copy of the source of address must be kept on file;
  5. after one (1) year after the Order is entered, the Link It Software will prepare a verified Status Report to the San Mateo Superior Court that Link It Software is in compliance with the terms of this Agreement;

We are required to note that Link It Software has not admitted any liability.

Anyone else who feels they have received spam from Link It Software that violated the above conditions in contempt of court may go to http://legal.hypertouch.com or contact John Fallat at 415-457-3773. We would like to express our deepest thanks to all those who have help with the case especially those who submitted Link It Software spam.

Hypertouch, www.hypertouch.com, provides custom Internet services including remote monitoring, maintenance, backups and upgrades of computer systems around the world, and very personal hand-holding for those people and businesses new to the Internet. In addition Hypertouch is developing next generation haptic peripherals.

Updates will be posted below, as they occur...

(previous press release is here)

Please send a copy of all spam from Link It Software and/or any of their DBA's) to linkitsoftware-uce@hypertouch.com. If you believe that the message is in violation of the injunction, please make a note of it. If you are including multiple emails in one message, do us a favor and note it in the subject line. Redacted or munged addresses in the headers are ok, but please include contact information for you to be reached if the originals are needed in court.

If you would like to contact someone about the suit, please send email to linkitsoftware-info@hypertouch.com. A copy will be forwarded to the lead attorney at the law firm.