Microsoft has scored today an important victory against spam. Scott Richter, who, in December 2003, when he was sued by Microsoft, was considered one of the three biggest spam generators in the world.

Scott Richter's company, OptInRealBig, offered online marketing services that were in fact spam messages.

Microsoft considered that Scott Richter has broken the American laws which govern the sending of e-mail messages and has sued him.

Scott Richter and OptInRealBig rated the accusation as being unfounded, but in the end, he has accepted to pay 7 million dollars to reach an agreement with Microsoft.

The Redmond company will withdraw its accusations and it has announced that out of the $7 million, $5 million will be invested into anti-spam researches and in educational programs.

Scott Richter has accepted, as part of the agreement to review his mailing policy and that he will never send unwanted messages again.

Microsoft has also announced that another million dollars will be donated to the New York centers for children through Microsoft's Unlimited Potential Program.