U.S. Court Rules that Federal Law Banning Junk Faxes Does Not Apply to E-mail

In Mark B. Aronson v. Bright-Teeth Now, LLC., a Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 ("TCPA"), banning unsolicited fax advertisements, cannot be applied to restrict unsolicited commercial e-mail. The Plaintiff received six unsolicited e-mail advertisements from the Defendant company and was seeking to recover $9,000 in damages under the TCPA. In deciding this case, the Court held that a personal computer did not fall within the TCPA's definition of "telephone facsimile machine" and that a commercial e-mail message was not regulated under the terms of the TCPA. Accordingly, the Court refused to award damages. For more information, visit: http://www.gigalaw.com/newsarchives/2003_05_12_index2.html#200281876 http://www.gigalaw.com/articles/2002/ramasastry-2002-05.html To view a copy of the decision visit: http://www.superior.court.state.pa.us/opinions/a03010_03.pdf Summary by: Nick Wong