Mansfield is arguing consent was involved because recipients of his e-mails did not unsubscribe and the addresses from which he sent e-mails were traceable.

However, Owen-Conway said Clarity1 disguised the origin of e-mails, placing fictional names in the "From" section of the e-mails.

He said Clarity1 also used e-mail addresses harvested by special-purpose software and used a network of six remote servers.

He told the court Mansfield's databases contained 11.8 million electronic addresses.

The Spam Act does not allow addresses from harvested software to be used.