A few weeks back TCPAland broke the news of a first-in-the-nation result: so-called ringless voicemail products–such as DirectDrop–were found by a district court to constitute a “call” subject to the TCPA.

Today the President of VoApp–the maker of Direct Drop–Paul Gies joined the Womble Bond Dickinson Ramble podcast and made it clear that the fight over the legality of Direct Drop is far from over. When asked whether VoApps still believes that the DirectDrop platform is not covered by the TCPA, even after Saunders he had this to say:

“We do believe that there are fundamental differences in how our services work [compared to] how the TCPA regulates calls to cell phones.”

Paul Gies, President VoApp, on Ramble Podcast Recorded 8/30/18

On the outcome of the Saunders case, Mr. Geis was clear that more could have been done to highlight those differences:

“I think there were mistakes that were made… We were unable to participate in the defense to the degree we would have liked. We think that if [the court] was presented with different information [the court] may have reached a different conclusion.”

Paul Gies, President VoApp, on Ramble Podcast Recorded 8/30/18

In terms of just what could have been done differently Mr. Geis suggests that the importance of expert testimony may have been overlooked:

“A technical expert would be critical… there’s differences between how a voicemail is left using our Direct Drop voicemail and how voicemails are left when you make a call to a handset and it is ultimately delivered to a voicemail. I don’t think the judge understood that.”

Paul Gies, President VoApp, on Ramble Podcast Recorded 8/30/18

Mr. Geis also made it clear that DirectDrop was willing to work with its clients–on a case-by-case basis–to provide technical expertise and litigation support. SO much more to come.

The full interview will be available here next Tuesday, September 4, 2018.