Microsoft Corp confirmed Friday it has apologized to Simon Grainger, one of two UK residents named in fifteen anti-spam lawsuits filed two months ago by the company, for getting the wrong man. The company said it has dropped the lawsuit, which accused Grainger of violating UK data protection laws by harvesting email addresses via dictionary attacks against Microsoft employees and users. It transpires that Microsoft filed the suit before checking whether the domain used by the spammer was registered to Grainger, a telecommunications engineer from Merseyside, at the time the attacks occurred.

"Upon further investigation of this case, we have found the domain from which attacks had been launched on Microsoft customers was only recently acquired by Mr Grainger and that he was not involved in any wrongdoing," senior attorney Tim Cranton said. "We have issued an apology to Mr Grainger and regret any distress these proceedings may have caused him and his family," Cranton said, adding, "Microsoft will continue to pursue the spammers involved in this case".