The decision last week by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on petitions seeking review of the Federal Communications Commission’s 2015 Declaratory Ruling and Order implementing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) represents a partial victory for the industry.

In the decision, the D.C. Circuit reversed the FCC’s guidance on the definition of an automatic telephone dialing system going back to 2003, leaving only the TCPA’s statutory definition.  That definition does not, on its face, include predictive dialers.

The decision creates some uncertainty about TCPA liability for calls to reassigned numbers.  In addition, callers continue to face the challenge of capturing revocations sent by consumers using methods other than those prescribed by the caller.

Please see our related full alert.