Internet market research firm Harris Interactive filed a lawsuit yesterday against a number of prominent Interenet Service Providers that had blocked the firm from corresponding with millions of its registered online panelists.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York, seeks injunctive relief and significant monetary damages from American Online; HotMail (owned by Microsoft Network); Quest; and others. The ISPs all subscribe to the Mail Abuse Prevention System LLC’s, Realtime Blackhole List (RBL) of alleged spammers on which Harris was listed. MAPS, a Redwood City, CA-based Internet watchdog group, is also named in the suit.
Harris Interactive also named in the suit its competitor market research firm, Incon, and its president, Martin Roth, accusing them of “nominating” Harris Interactive for the RBL.
The company said that the blocking currently affects some 2.7 million of its more than 6.6 million panel members, including about 600,000 who have participated in online market research. The blocking is also preventing some parties from accessing Harris Interactive’s Web sites and joining its Interactive panel.
“MAPS based their action on a complaint by a direct ompetitor of ours, whose motivation to defame us appears to be based on our leadership in the marketplace,” said Gordon S. Black, chairman and CEO of Harris Interactive, in a statement.
The Rochester, New York-based company said that unlike many market research firms, it does not send unsolicited e-mail to attract new members to its online panel.
“[MAPS] at their sole discretion, have defined what constitutes `unsolicited’,” Black said. “The ISPs have put their fate in the hands of a subjective and inconsistent organization for protection. It is time to put this issue into the hands of the federal government.”
While Black said he believes that the ISPs “pay MAPS’ bills,” officials at MAPS have said that the RBL service is free to subscribers.
The suit also includes an anti-trust complaint against AOL, which owns both Netscape and a direct market research competitor of Harris Interactive’s called Digital Marketing Systems (DMS). AOL’s block, which is now in place, gives DMS an effective way to limit Harris Interactive’s ability to compete against DMS in the marketplace, the company said.
In June, permission-based e-mail marketing company yesmail.com, New York, obtained a temporary restraining order preventing MAPS from listing yesmail on the RBL. The two companies have since agreed to put litigation on hold in place of discussion and are expected to announce an agreement within days.
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