Pfizer Inc. and Microsoft Corp. have filed 17 lawsuits against online pharmacies they say sent hundreds of millions of unwanted e-mail solicitations to users of Microsoft’s Hotmail e-mail program last year alone.
Pfizer, which makes male sexual dysfunction drug Viagra, filed its suits in U.S. District Court in New York. The drug giant seeks unspecified monetary damages, attorneys fees and other remedies, said Pfizer spokesman Bryant Haskins, who alleged that these operations had call centers in Canada and manufacturing plants in India.
“What we’re really trying to do with these lawsuits is to close these operations down,” he said.
He noted that that these suits also enable Pfizer to apply to the Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in order to have the domain names of these sites taken away.
“We expect that to happen in 15 to 30 days,” he said. “They usually act pretty quickly.”
The lawsuits specifically target what the two companies characterize as “international spam rings,” run by the firms or individuals behind the Web sites www.cndpharmacy.com, www.myepharmacydirect.com, www.Ezydrugstore.com and others.
Attempts to reach these Web sites were unsuccessful at deadline.
Additionally, Viagra maker Pfizer took legal action alleging trademark violations against companies or individuals operating 10 Web sites with names such as www.viagrastories.com, www.cheapviagrastore.com and www.viagra.com.ua
According to news reports, Pfizer attorney Beth Levine said the fake Viagra advertised by the spammers doesn’t work like the real thing and in some cases could be dangerous if taken.
She also said Pfizer doesn’t send unsolicited e-mails promoting the drug, even though the company gets plenty of complaints from e-mail users who think the spam is coming from the company.
“Spam is a real problem,” she said. “Even some Viagra spam makes it through our own [corporate computer] firewalls,” to Pfizer employees.
Network
