The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit recently became the first federal appellate court to apply the Federal Communications Commission’s declaratory ruling that expanded the notion of what constitutes an...more
11/5/2015
/ Appeals ,
Cell Phones ,
Declaratory Rulings ,
FCC ,
Mobile Devices ,
Prior Express Consent ,
Right to Privacy ,
Robocalling ,
Smartphones ,
Summary Judgment ,
TCPA ,
Telecommunications ,
Text Messages ,
Wireless Devices ,
Yahoo!
Telemarketers and others who may have been wondering how the Federal Communications Commission’s recent and – to industry participants – concerning Declaratory Ruling and Order on the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)...more
8/21/2015
/ Call Blocking ,
Declaratory Rulings ,
FCC ,
Mobile Broadband Services ,
Right to Privacy ,
Robocalling ,
Spoofing ,
TCPA ,
Telecommunications ,
Telemarketing ,
Text Messages
In potentially its most significant action under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) since the 2003 overhaul of its rules ushering in the National Do-Not-Call Registry and other updates, the Federal Communications...more
7/15/2015
/ Banks ,
CAN-SPAM Act ,
Class Action ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Data Breach ,
Data Security ,
Debt Collectors ,
Do Not Call List ,
FCC ,
Financial Institutions ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Healthcare ,
Inmates ,
Robocalling ,
TCPA ,
Telemarketing ,
Text Messages ,
Unsolicited Phone Calls
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted a Declaratory Ruling and Order that resolves 19 petitions for declaratory ruling, one rulemaking petition and one petition for clarification, all arising out of an upsurge...more
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has released the text of its Second Report and Order (R&O) adopting rules requiring multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) to pass through the secondary audio stream...more
6/5/2015
/ Accessibility Rules ,
Cable Television Providers ,
Covered Entities ,
CVAA ,
Disability ,
Emergency Alerts ,
FCC ,
Multichannel Video Programming ,
MVPD ,
NPRM ,
Public Comment ,
Television Broadcast Stations
On Wednesday, May 27, 2015, the FCC released a Fact Sheet announcing that Chairman Wheeler circulated a proposal to the other Commissioners for resolution of two dozen pending petitions seeking clarification of the FCC’s...more
At its May 21, 2015, Open Meeting, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted new rules requiring visually displayed emergency information to be available aurally on “second screens” – such as tablets, laptops, or...more
Reacting to last month’s Policy Statement by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), trade associations representing a spectrum of telecommunications providers filed a joint Petition for Reconsideration and for a stay of...more
A majority of the nation’s state and territorial Attorneys General have collectively urged the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission to revisit rules and policies in ways that would help law...more
The Federal Communications Commission has issued an Order sustaining its rule that even ads faxed with the permission of the recipient must include a notice with instructions for how to opt out of future faxes. The Order...more
This updates our report last summer on a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) letter brief filed at the invitation of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Nigro v. Mercantile Adjustment Bureau, which...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a decision in Gomez v. Campbell-Ewald Company holding that the defendant marketing consultant could be liable under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) for...more
Yesterday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released its Second Order on Reconsideration and Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“Order” or “FNPRM”) requiring closed captioning of certain video clips...more
We reported last spring on two FCC declaratory rulings, GroupMe and Cargo Airline, that included some broad, business-friendly interpretations of rules implementing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), under which...more
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced that it settled a recent investigation of Sprint Corporation for failures to properly implement do-not-call requests and text-message opt-outs received from consumers. The...more
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a Notice of Apparent Liability (NAL) to Dialing Services LLC, finding the company apparently liable for 184 prerecorded calls to cell phones in violation of the Telephone...more
We recently reported on two FCC declaratory rulings interpreting the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), in the context of social-network text messages and package-delivery calls, that included broad, business-friendly...more
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has issued two declaratory rulings interpreting the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) as applied to prerecorded calls and autodialed calls and texts to cell phones. While the...more
But One Vote is Not Enough for Action, Nor Does Action Assure a Favorable Outcome -
FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly recently blogged that “It is Time to Provide Clarity” on issues swirling around application of the...more
The next phase of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requirements implementing the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA) is set to take effect for closed-captioning video programming...more
On Feb. 24, 2014, the FCC released the text of the Report and Order (R&O), Declaratory Ruling, and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM), which it adopted at its February Open Meeting, addressing the petition of...more
At its February 2014 Open Meeting today, the FCC approved new regulations governing the quality of closed captions that must appear in television programming. As noted in our earlier advisory, the long-awaited rules stem from...more
Court Also Holds Failure to Closed-Caption Online Videos is Not Intentional Discrimination Under State Unruh Civil Rights Act, and that Website Decisions Whether to Caption Occur in Furtherance of First Amendment Rights Under...more
In its Tentative Agenda for its Feb. 20, 2014 open meeting, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) states that it will adopt a Report and Order, Declaratory Ruling, and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held in Patriotic Veterans v. Indiana that the state’s automatic dialing-announcing device (ADAD) statute is not preempted by provisions that govern prerecorded calls and...more