Correspondence: Ewan Nettleton, Bristows, 3 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3AA, UK. Tel: +44 (0)20 7400 8000; Fax: +44 (0)20 7400 8050; e-mail: ewan.nettleton@bristows.com

¹is a senior associate solicitor in the Intellectual Property Department at Bristows. He specialises in Intellectual Property Law with an emphasis on litigation. He has an MA in Chemistry and a DPhil in Protein Chemistry, and is particularly interested in matters relating to the IT and pharmaceutical industries.

²is a trainee solicitor at Bristows currently sitting in the Intellectual Property Litigation Department. He has a BSc degree in Physics and French.

Received 17 April 2007; Revised 17 April 2007.

Abstract

Spam is a global problem. Having come about as an unwanted side effect of the ease of use of the internet and e-mailing, it is more than a mere inconvenience to e-mail recipients and their IT Departments. Recent estimates suggest that between 50 and 60 per cent of all e-mails sent today are spam.¹ Such a high volume of mostly useless e-mail traffic slows down IT networks, crashes computers, takes up countless man-hours resolving problems, and is a constant source of irritation for users. One estimate puts the cost to UK businesses alone at £1.3bn per year² and the cost worldwide at 39 billion Euros.³ Importantly, spam also creates problems in the public's perception for legitimate electronic marketers and often results in their e-mail messages being blocked, deleted, or lost in a sea of unwanted correspondence.