In a somewhat clueless move the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois has fined Spamhaus $11.7MM for blocking spam from e360insight. According to c|net:

The court also barred Spamhaus from causing any e-mail sent by e360insight or Linhardt to be “blocked, delayed, altered, or interrupted in anyway” and ordered Spamhaus to publish an apology stating that Linhardt and his company are not spammers, according to a copy of the order.

Various spam fliters such as Barracuda and Architel’s own system use Spamhaus (as well as other blacklist providers) to help filter possible spam messages. The good news is that as a UK listed company Spamhaus is not subject to rulings from U.S. courts.