Letters: Feb. 5, 2007

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"A Spammer's Revenge" [Jan. 15] was stunningly irresponsible and defamed our clients, Omega World Travel Inc., and its subsidiary, Cruise.com Inc., which were falsely identified in the story as "spammers." The article was based on several allegations made over the past two years by Mark Mumma, a defendant in a defamation lawsuit filed by Omega against him and his company, Mummagraphics Inc. Omega alleged that Mumma engaged in a smear campaign waged on his many websites to brand our clients "criminal spammers" after Omega refused to pay Mumma $6,250 to avoid a lawsuit he threatened to file. Mumma based his characterization of our clients as "spammers" on the fact that he received e-mail that he claimed he did not ask for. Contrary to the content of the article, the evidence in the case shows that 1) the e-mail sent to Mumma came from a working e-mail address, 2) all of the transmission information in the header was accurate (and enabled Mumma to find Omega without any difficulty), 3) Omega received a request to send e-mail to Mumma's address and 4) Omega's general counsel, John Lawless, did not promise Mumma that he would not receive any more e-mail because Mumma refused to provide his e-mail address when he was asked for it. Mumma filed counterclaims asserting that Omega violated state and federal law that regulates the transmission of e-mail and that he was entitled to hundreds of thousands of dollars in statutory damages even though he admitted that those e-mails caused him nothing more than "nominal" damages. All of Mumma's claims against Omega were dismissed by a federal trial court and a federal court of appeals. Those decisions were not based on mere technicalities, as suggested in the article, but on the fact that our clients fully complied with applicable antispam laws. TIME'S article has damaged the sterling reputation of our clients, a reputation that was built over 35 years by Gloria and Daniel Bohan through their commitment to their customers and partners to provide the most professional travel-related services in their industry. Much of the information about this case was provided to TIME before the article was written. Despite those facts and the decisions that vindicated our clients, they continue to be identified as spammers by Mumma, and TIME has amplified that accusation through its considerable credibility and distribution. Nothing could be further from the truth--Omega and Cruise.com are not "spammers."

JAMES P. HODGES, ESQ. THOMAS J. POWELL, ESQ. COUNSEL TO OMEGA WORLD TRAVEL INC. Fairfax, Va.

TIME regrets characterizing Omega and its subsidiary as "spammers" without making it clear that "spammer" is merely an allegation by Mumma and that the company's e-mails had complied with federal antispam laws.

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