Mobile marketing is the new frontier, and many companies across many industries are increasingly using technology to communicate with consumers through text messaging. As mobile campaigns proliferate, so do class actions asserting violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act for “text-spamming” — sending unsolicited promotional text messages without consent of the recipients.
Courts throughout the country are wrestling with applying the TCPA, a statute more than two decades old, to new technology, often arriving at divergent interpretations and inconsistent results. Even the Federal Communications Commission, charged with implementing the statute, has acknowledged both the explosion of lawsuits and the murky state of the law.
This article examines recent cases that demonstrate how courts are grappling with issues of statutory interpretation of the TCPA and technology that has increasing confusing and far-reaching impact, leaving companies that want to market using the latest in mobile technology operating in treacherous territory.
Courts throughout the country are wrestling with applying the TCPA, a statute more than two decades old, to new technology, often arriving at divergent interpretations and inconsistent results. Even the Federal Communications Commission, charged with implementing the statute, has acknowledged both the explosion of lawsuits and the murky state of the law.
This article examines recent cases that demonstrate how courts are grappling with issues of statutory interpretation of the TCPA and technology that has increasing confusing and far-reaching impact, leaving companies that want to market using the latest in mobile technology operating in treacherous territory.