A UK MP has called the actions by a US court against Spamhaus outrageous and will call on the Americans for an apology and the suspension of the judge in question.

The UK anti-spam organisation Spamhaus  was found guilty by a judge of harming a spammers business and ordered to pay £11.7m in costs.

But Derek Wyatt, chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Internet Group (Apig), slammed the decision by the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, calling it " completely and utterly wrong".

"It is outrageous, and not for the first time, the Americans have got it completely wrong. Spamhaus is one of the greatest intelligence organisations I have come across; these judgements make the law and the judges look complete asses," he told Computeractive.

He plans to write to the American embassy demanding an apology and the suspension of the judge in the case. He will also be talking to Steve Linford, one of Spamhaus' founders about the legal problem, which Linford is concerned could escalate further.

The loss of Spamhaus would hit internet users hard. The organisation helps internet service providers and organisations filter out spam by means of a blacklist.

The problems for Spamhaus started when David Linhardt (aka e360 Insight), named as a spammer by Spamhaus, filed a lawsuit in an Illinois court, which it did not contest in person.

He claimed that voluntary organisation Spamhaus has a business in Illinois enabling him to sue. Spamhaus presented paperwork proving it had no business in Illinois, so was outside the court's jurisdiction.

If it had gone to court to defend itself, this would have been considered an admitance that it fell within the court's jurisdiction.

Linford said Spamhaus followed all the procedures that it could. "We followed the rules of the court but it had no effect, the case continued and here we are. "

The decision creates a legal mess for Spamhaus. In September, Judge Charles Kocoras of the Illinois court issued a default ruling which ordered Spamhous to pay damages of $11.7m to e360insight and its chief executive, Linhardt.

Spamhaus was also barred from causing any email sent by e360insight or Linhardt to be "blocked, delayed, altered, or interrupted in any way" and ordered the anti-spam organisation to publish an apology stating that Linhardt and his company are not spammers.

Although the judgements can't be enforced in the UK, last week the judge also issued a proposed order that calls on Icann and Tucow to suspend Spamhaus' internet service.

Icann, the non-profit organisation set up to manage the domain name system of the internet, lacks the legal powers to comply as it does not maintain the dot org registry. Nor can it force registrars, such as Tucow to delete domain names.

Tucow is based in Canada so it may not be concerned by the US call. Additionally Spamhaus is now fighting back and has some powerful friends.

A number of large US organisations and legal firms are ready to defend it, as is one US government agency. Linford hopes Wyatt can persuade the UK Government to offer its support as well.

You can read updates on the case on the Spamhaus website .