Who says you can't retaliate against an Internet service provider? CI Host has filed a lawsuit against America Online for allegedly blocking its e-mail.
CI Host, a Dallas firm that hosts Web sites and sends e-mail for 200,000 clients, charges that on Aug. 12 AOL blocked the Internet protocol (IP) addresses of its servers.
“We host 15 million e-mail accounts,” said CEO Chris Faulkner. “Many of them use AOL dial-up [service], and none of them could contact companies that use AOL.”
AOL did not return a call for comment by press time. AOL spokesman Nicholas Graham has said in other reports that the allegations made in the lawsuit are without merit.
Faulkner, who claimed in an interview that AOL was in settlement talks with his firm, said that “the [blockage] came out of the blue — we got no faxes, no warning, no phone calls, and they will not say why they did this.”
He added: “When our customers would e-mail through AOL, the e-mails would bounce back and the message would say, ‘This e-mail is coming from a spammer. AOL has determined that the e-mail server you are sending this e-mail from is blacklisted for sending excessive spam.’”
Initially filed with the District Court of Tarrant County, TX, the case has since been moved to federal court. It accuses AOL of unfair competition, trademark law violations and interference with contractual rights, and asks for damages of $15 million.
A state judge temporarily ordered the blocks opened. But Faulkner charged that AOL refused to comply for 10 days and that he filed a motion for contempt. The IP addresses have since been unblocked.
Faulkner said he doesn't plan to settle with AOL.
“I am not afraid,” he said. They're a giant and they have a lot of money, but I'm big and have a lot of money too.”
