Social networking website Facebook was awarded $711.2 million in damages relating to an anti-spam case against Internet marketer Sanford Wallace, court documents show.
Wallace did not oppose the motion or appear at the hearing on September 18th, 2009, according to a filing on Thursday in a San Jose, California federal court.
The site filed an anti-spamming case against Wallace in February for accessing people's Facebook accounts without their permission and sending phony mail and posts to the individuals' public message wall, the company said in a blog post.
"While we don't expect to receive the vast majority of the award, we hope that this will act as a continued deterrent," Facebook said in a blog post.
Wallace did not immediately respond to a Reuters e-mail seeking comment. His e-mail address was obtained from the court documents.
The case is In re Facebook Inc. vs. Sanford Wallace, et al, US District Court, Northern District of California, No. C 09-798 JF.
Reuters