Popular Topics
All Topics
- .Com Disclosure Guide
- 140conf
- 140conf Long Island
- 140confLI
- 47 USC 230
- AAA
- ACI 2017
- Ads
- Advance Registration
- Advertising
- Advertising Agencies
- Advertising Agency
- Advertising Disclosure
- Advertising Industry
- Advertising Injury
- Advertising Law
- Advertising Practice
- advertising self-regulation
- Advertising Self-Regulatory Council
- Advertising Software
- Advertising, Marketing & Promotions News
- Advertorials
- Advisory
- Affiliate Marketing
- Affiliate Program
- All Natural
- Amazon
- Amazon Silk
- Amazon Tax
- Amazon.com
- Amendments
- American Advertising Federation
- American Bar Association
- Americans with Disabilities Act
- Android
- Annual Audit
- Annual Fee
- anti-fraud
- App Developers
- Apple
- Apps
- Arbitration
- Arbitration Clause
- Arbitration Rules
- Ashley Madison
- ASRC
- AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion
- ATDS
- Attorney
- Attorney General
- Audio Beacons
- Augme
- Auto-dial
- Automatic Renewal
- Automobiles
- BBB AdTruth
- Bead Art Playsets
- Behavioral Advertising
- Best Lawyers
- Blackberry
- Bloggers and Influencers
- Bloomberg BNA
- Brain Training
- Branding
- Brands
- Breach
- Burden of Proof
- Business Law
- Business, Marketing & Promotions News
- Buyers
- California
- California Auto-Renewal Task Force
- California Consumer Privacy Act
- California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control
- California’s Automatic Renewal Law
- California’s Unfair Competition Law
- Campaigns
- CAN-Spam
- Cancer Fund of America
- cannabis
- Caribbean & Latin American Corporate Counsel Summit 2017
- CARU's Guidelines
- CAS
- Cash prizes
- CASL
- CBBB
- CBD
- Celebrity Images
- Cell Phone Applications
- Cell phones
- CFPB
- CGMP
- Chambers 2017 USA Guide
- Chantal Tode
- Charge Pop-ups
- Charity Fundraising
- Charity Regulators
- Children's Advertising
- Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU)
- children's marketing
- Children's Privacy
- Civil Penalties
- Class Action
- Class Action Lawsuit
- Class Certification
- Clean Diesel
- Cognitive Claims
- Colorado
- Commerce Department
- Commercial Advertising
- Commercial Electronic Mail Act (CEMA)
- Communications Decency Act
- compliance
- conference
- Consumer Complaints
- Consumer Complaints List
- Consumer Contracts
- Consumer Data
- Consumer Fraud
- consumer health guidelines
- Consumer Privacy
- Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights
- Consumer Protection
- consumer protection laws
- Consumer Sentinel Network
- Contract
- COPPA
- COPPA FTC Olshan Advertising Marketing Promotions Privacy
- Copyright Act
- Copyright Alert System
- Copyright Infringement
- Copyright Infringement Abroad
- Copyright, Trademark and Other Intellectual Property
- Corporate Law
- Council of Better Business Bureau
- Counterclaims
- Court Decisions
- COVID-19
- Cramming
- Credit Card Payment Surcharges
- Crowdfunding
- Cryptocurrency
- cybersecurity
- D.C. Circuit Court
- Daily Fantasy Sports Contests
- data breach
- Data Broker
- Data Collection Practices
- Data Protection
- Data Security
- Data Transfers
- Debt collectors
- Deceptive Advertising
- Deceptive Pricing
- Deceptive Tracking
- Department of Commerce
- Department of Labor
- Department of Labor (DOL)
- dietary supplements
- Digital
- Digital Advertising
- Digital Media
- Direct listings
- Direct Marketers
- Direct marketing programs
- Direct response marketing
- DirectTV
- Disclosure
- Disclosure Obligations
- Disclosure Rules
- Discounts
- DMA
- DMCA
- Do Not Call
- Do Not Track
- DOJ
- Domain Extensions
- Domino's Pizza
- Dot Com Disclosures
- DPPA
- DraftKings
- Drawing By Chance
- Elder Abuse Prevention and Prosecution Act
- Emissions Testing
- endorsement
- Enforcement Action
- Enhanced Ads
- Entry Fee
- EPA
- Epic
- Ethics
- EU Commission
- EU-US Privacy Shield
- European Commission
- European Court of Justice (ECJ)
- European Union
- European Union registration holders
- European Union Trademark
- Exchange listing
- Ezor
- Factory outlets
- Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)
- Fair Debt Collections Practices Act
- Fair Information Practice Principles
- Fair Labor Standards Act
- False Advertising
- FanDuel
- Fantasy Contests Act
- Fantasy Sports
- Fantasy Sports Operators
- Farm Bill
- fashion law
- Fax broadcsters
- Faxes
- FCC
- FCC Developments
- FCC Solicited Fax Rule
- FDA
- FDCA
- Federal Laws & Regulations
- Federal Overtime Regulations
- Federal Trade Commission
- Final Rule
- FIPP
- First Amendment
- Fit Products
- Fit Tea
- Florida
- Force Majeure
- Fraud
- FTC
- FTC Act
- FTC Guidance
- FTC restitution
- FTC’s Jewelry Guides
- Gambling
- Gambling Laws
- Game Promotions
- GDPR
- General Data Protection Regulation
- Geo-targeted Advertising
- Georgia
- Guide
- HARO
- Health-related Mobile Apps
- Health-related Products
- Healthy
- HIPAA
- History Sniffing
- HitPath
- Homestead Laws
- HTC
- Hurricane
- IAB
- ICANN
- illegal content
- Illegal Gambling
- Illinois
- IMDb
- Influencer Marketing
- Injury in Fact
- Insider Trading
- Inspection Resources
- Insurance Company
- Insurance Coverage
- INTA
- Intellectual Property
- Internet and Privacy Law
- iOS
- Iowa
- IP Awareness Assessment Tool
- IPOs
- Jeff Pulver
- Jewelry
- JOLT
- Jurisdiction
- Kindle Fire
- Lanham Act
- Law
- Law Enforcement
- Law Review Article
- law school
- Laws
- Leading Lawyers
- Lee Bogner
- Legal 500 United States 2017
- Legislation
- letter of consent
- Licensing Fees
- Lily Robotics
- List managers
- Litigation
- Lumosity
- Lumosity ads
- Lumosity games
- Lustigman Firm
- Luxury Daily
- made in the usa
- Magazine publishers
- Mail Order Sales Rule
- Manufacture
- Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (“MSRP”)
- Marden-Kane
- Marketing
- Marketing & Promotions News
- Marketing and Advertising Law
- Marketshare
- Mass texts
- Material Disclosures
- Mc Donalds
- Media and Entertainment
- Media Companies
- Microsoft
- MLM
- Mobile Financial Services
- Mobile In-app Charges
- Mobile Marketer
- Mobile Marketing
- Mobile Payment Systems
- Mobile Payment Systems Security Programs
- Mortgage Bankers Association
- Mortgage Investors
- NAD
- NARB
- Native Advertising
- Native Advertising Guidelines
- Nautilus, Inc.
- Network Advertising Initiative
- New Jersey
- New Jersey Supreme Court
- New York
- New York Law Journal
- New York SHIELD Act
- Nomi
- Non-commerical Calls
- Non-profit Organization
- Notice
- Nutrient Content
- NY Attorney General
- objective consumer harm
- Off-label Prescriptions
- Office for Civil Rights (OCR)
- Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)
- Office of National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC)
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Olshan
- Olshan Grundman
- Olshan News
- Online Advertising
- Online Apps
- Online Cancellation
- Online Contracts
- Online Discount Pricing
- Online Entertainment Co
- Online Retail
- Online Reviews
- Online Tracking
- Online travel agencies
- Overstock
- Paid Promotions
- pandemic
- Patents
- Payment Methods
- Penny Auction
- Performance Marketing
- Personally Identifiable Information
- Pet Care
- Peter Shankman
- Pharmaceutical Advertising
- Pharmaceutical Manufacturers
- pre-orders
- Pre-recorded Message
- Price Match Guarantee
- Pricing Guides
- Pricing Practices
- Privacy
- Privacy Act
- Privacy Policy
- Privacy Practices
- Privacy Shield
- Pro-Consumer
- Products
- Professional Association for Customer Engagement (PACE)
- Promotion
- Proposed Rulemaking
- Public Database
- Publication of Age
- Publisher Magazine
- Q&A
- RCT Requirements
- Real Estate
- Real-estate-advertising
- Reasonableness
- Registration
- Regulations
- Resale Value
- Restrictions
- retail
- Retail Stores
- Revisions
- Risk
- Robocalls
- Roundtable
- Safe Harbor
- Sales
- Sales Practices
- Sales Tax
- Sandy
- SDNY
- SEC
- SEC disclosure
- SEC disgorgement
- SEC Form 10
- Section 17600 of the Business and Professions Code
- Securities Act of 1933
- Securities Act Section 17(b)
- Securities Exchange Act of 1934
- self-regulatory
- Sellers
- Service-Mark Infringement
- Settlement
- Sex Offenders
- SilverPush Apps
- Skill Contest
- Skin Care Products
- Smartphone
- Social Media
- Social Media Accounts
- Social Media Marketing
- Social Media Posts
- Social Networking
- South Dakota
- Southern District of Florida
- Spam
- Special Olympics
- Spotify
- State Law
- Statute of Limitations
- Subscribers' privacy rights
- Subscription Arrangements
- substantiation rules
- Super Lawyers
- Supreme Court
- Sweeping
- Sweepstakes Law
- Sweeptstakes Contest
- symposium
- Tasty
- TCCWNA
- TCPA
- TCPA Appeals
- TCPA Claim
- TCPA Class Actions
- TCPA Lawsuit
- TCPA Liability
- TCPA Regulation
- TCPA Ruling
- Tech Companies
- Tech Day New York 2017
- Telecom Law
- Telemarketers
- Telemarketing
- Telemarketing Calls
- Telemarketing Law
- Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR)
- Telephone Consumer Act
- Terms & Conditions
- Text Message Ads
- Text Messages
- Text Messengers
- Textile Fiber Products Identification Act
- The 2017 ANA/BAA 39th Marketing Law Conference: Breakthrough: Legal Strategies for Dynamic Businesses
- The Americans with Disabilities Act
- The Electronic Retailing Self-Regulation Program
- The Kardashians
- The Pennsylvania Record
- Third Circuit Court
- Throttling
- Top Ten Complaints
- Trademark Clearinghouse
- Trademark Protection
- Trademark Rights
- Trademarks
- Transactions
- Transnational Criminal Organization (TCO
- Truth-in-Consumer Contract, Warranty & Notice Act
- U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
- Unauthorized Data
- United Kingdom
- Unsolicited Advertisement
- Unsubscribe Act of 2019
- US Supreme Court
- Use Tax
- Velti
- Vermont
- Vermont House Bill 593
- Vicarious Liability
- Violations
- virtual reality
- Wal-Mart v. Dukes
- Warning Letter
- Washington D.C.
- Washington Law
- Washington’s Consumer Protection Act
- WBO
- Web Agreements
- Web Browsers
- webinar
- webOS
- Websites
- Western District of Washington
- White House
- World Boxing Organization
- World Trademark Review
Recent Posts
- First Circuit Ruling Limits Wire Act’s Control Over Lottery, Online Gaming
- Andrew Lustigman Quoted in Law360 on the FTC’s Ability to Seek Monetary Restitution
- Olshan Branding Management and Protection Attorneys Present Webinar on Marketing in the COVID-19 Era to the Bronx Third Avenue BID
- The Legal 500 Publishes “United States: Pharmaceutical Advertising” Q&A by Lustigman and Spina
- New York Enacts Comprehensive Automatic Renewal Law Modeled After California Law
- Olshan’s Advertising Practice Provides Pro Bono Support to COVID-19 and Racial Equality Fundraiser
- Law360 Publishes Article by Scott Shaffer on Recent TCPA Rulings that Benefit Companies Facing Robocall Claims
- Another Court of Appeals Rules Against the FTC on Disgorgement Issue
- Federal Trial Court Rules Against Enforcement of TCPA Claims from 2015-2020
- Webinar - Retail Marketing Compliance in Post-COVID Era
Archives
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
Contact Us
212.451.2258
Supreme Court to Determine What Constitutes an Automated Telephone Dialing System
Authored by Scott Shaffer and summer associate Christian Villatoro
The United States Supreme Court has granted Facebook’s petition for certiorari for a case involving the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (“TCPA”). The issue, which will be heard during in the October 2020 term, concerns the definition of the term “automated telephone dialing system” or ATDS. Because there is a split between the holdings of the Third and Ninth Circuits, the Supreme Court accepted Facebook’s appeal of the Ninth Circuit’s 2019 decision in Duguid v. Facebook, Inc.
In Duguid, the Ninth Circuit determined that Facebook’s automated security message system fell within the definition of an ATDS. The TCPA defines an ATDS as “equipment which has the capacity (a) to store or produce telephone numbers to be called, using a random or sequential number generator; and (b) to dial such numbers.” This definition was written nearly thirty years ago, and quite simply is very difficult to apply in light of all the technological changes that have occurred since then.
In 2014, plaintiff Noah Duguid, who never owned a Facebook account and never consented to receive communications, began receiving automated text messages from Facebook’s server warning of a possible hack to his nonexistent Facebook page. After several attempts to stop Facebook from sending these messages, Duguid commenced a lawsuit claiming that the automated text messages fell under the definition of an ATDS and that the use of Facebook’s security system violated the TCPA.
Facebook moved to dismiss, claiming that its automated security messages were not sent by an ATDS as defined by the TCPA. Facebook argued its security system did not send the messages automatically like other prohibited autodialers do, but rather sent them reflexively when there is an indication of a security breach.
The district court granted Facebook’s motion to dismiss, but Duguid prevailed on appeal to the Ninth Circuit. According to the Ninth Circuit, Duguid had sufficiently alleged a claim that the TCPA’s prohibition on calls from an ATDS would encompass Facebook’s security messages.
Facebook then appealed to the Supreme Court, noting that the Ninth Circuit’s ruling is at odds with a Third Circuit holding in Dominquez v. Yahoo! in which the Federal Communications Commission attempted to define an ATDS in 2015, but the D.C. Circuit invalidated that definition in ACA International v. FCC in 2018. As a result of the grant of Facebook’s petition, the Supreme Court will now decide the scope of the decades-old definition of an ATDS.
Unless there is prior express written consent (which Facebook unquestionably did not possess from Duguid), the TCPA generally prohibits phone calls and text messages sent by an ATDS. Violators are subject to penalties of $500 per call or text message, a dollar figure that has generated copious litigation over the life of the TCPA.
Since its enactment, the TCPA has been amended more than once, for example, to allow an ATDS to be used for emergency purposes and to permit calls made for the purpose of collecting debts owed to the United States government, which amendmentwas later revoked. In Barr v. American Association of Political Consultants, decided July 2020, the Supreme Court struck down the government’s debt collecting exception, finding it to be in violation of the First Amendment because it impermissibly favored one type of speech (government debt collecting) over others. Specifically, the Supreme Court found the exception to be a content-based speech restriction that gave preference to automated calls for the purpose of debt collection while restricting calls for other purposes.
TAKEAWAY: Currently, there is no clear definition of what constitutes an ATDS under the TCPA. Businesses that rely on telemarketing or technology to communicate with their customers can look forward to obtaining clarity as to what technology is permissible for reaching large numbers of consumers quickly.