The California Court of Appeal has held that California’s

anti-spam statute (1) is not pre-empted by the federal

CAN-SPAM Act, and (2) that it imposes strict liability for

anyone who advertises in a commercial e-mail that violates

the California statute, whether or not such advertiser has

knowledge of the violation.

The plaintiff in Hypertouch, Inc. v. ValueClick, Inc., provides

e-mail service to about 100 customers inside and outside

California. Hypertouch filed suit against defendants

ValueClick, various ValueClick subsidiaries and PrimaryAds,

claiming that they violated Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code §

17529.5(a) which provides:

It is unlawful for any person or entity to advertise in

a commercial e-mail advertisement either sent from

California or sent to a California electronic mail address

under any of the following circumstances...

Please see full alert below for more information.