Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Robert Baines gave the company 30 days to comply with the preliminary injunction.
Blue Mountain sued Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT) in December, accusing the company of attempting to "disrupt and ultimately destroy" it by filtering its e-greeting into the trash.
The ruling targets Outlook Express 5.0, the e-mail software that contains the disputed filter. The software is in a testing phase and is included in betas of IE 5.0.
"This is a complete victory for us," said Jared Schutz, Blue Mountain Arts' vice president of business development.
MS: Decision 'punishes' Net users
Microsoft officials panned the ruling and said they are considering their legal options.
"We're obviously disappointed by the decision because it unnecessarily punishes all Internet users who, at their discretion, can benefit from an innovative technology to help them manage spam in favor of special and unwarranted treatment of one firm," Microsoft spokesman Tom Pilla said. He said users would have had to actively turn on a spam filter to experience the problem.
Plus, Pilla said the company began shipping a revised version of Outlook on Jan.1 that does not filter out Blue Mountain's cards. "Right now, it's not an issue," Pilla said.
But Schutz noted the software began filtering out Blue Mountains' greeting just as Microsoft was starting a similar service.
"It's an awful coincidence that they launched a competing greeting card service at the same time we began experiencing these difficulties," Schutz said. Blue Mountain, which is supported by advertising, has become an extremely popular site on the Web. According to Web-tracking firm Media Metrix Inc., the company's bluemountainarts.com was the most heavily trafficked e-commerce site on the Internet during the month of December, topping even Amazon.com.
Thursday's ruling is one of several legal wins for Blue Mountain in the case. Judge Baines already has ordered Microsoft to post a warning that the company filters out e-greeting cards on its popular MSN portal site. And shortly after the case was filed, a judge ruled that Microsoft must help the company alter its greeting card alerts so they aren't blocked, an action Microsoft said it's taken.
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