On June 6, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Barr v. American Association of Political Consultants, Inc., et al., settling an issue that has lingered over litigation under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) for the past several years. In a badly fractured opinion featuring multiple concurrences and dissents, a majority of the Court held that … Continue Reading
Arpan Sura
U.S. Supreme Court Finds TCPA’s Federal-Debts Exemption Unconstitutional; Leaves Rest of TCPA Intact
Second Circuit Panel Sides with Ninth Circuit on What Qualifies as an Autodialer
A recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Duran v. La Boom Disco, Inc. has interrupted the emerging consensus around the definition of “autodialer” in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). On April 7, 2020, a Second Circuit panel joined a Ninth Circuit panel in adopting a broad reading of the statutory definition of … Continue Reading
Executive Order Creates Committee to Replace “Team Telecom” Review of Foreign Telecom Investments
Recent developments have positioned the Executive Branch to exert greater influence over the U.S. telecommunications sector. On April 4, 2020, President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order creating a new process for Executive Branch review of telecommunications-related applications and licenses involving foreign participation. The new procedures replace the review currently performed by an informal, multiagency group known as “Team Telecom.” … Continue Reading
President Trump Signs Bipartisan Broadband Mapping Law
On March 23, 2020, President Trump signed the Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability (DATA) Act. The law requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to collect and disseminate more granular data about the availability of broadband service and to establish processes to ensure data accuracy.
The legislation comes in response to commentary about the FCC’s broadband coverage maps and … Continue Reading
FCC Confirms that Certain COVID-19 Communications Fall Within the TCPA’s “Emergency Purposes” Exception
Health care providers and government officials have more clarity regarding the ability to place certain calls and texts about the novel coronavirus, thanks to recent action by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
On March 20, 2020, the FCC released a Declaratory Ruling confirming that the pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus qualifies as an emergency under the Telephone Consumer Protection … Continue Reading
Seventh Circuit Joins Third and Eleventh Circuits in “Autodialer” Circuit Split
Slowly but surely, the U.S. Courts of Appeal increasingly agree on how to interpret the definition of “automatic telephone dialing system” (“ATDS” or “autodialer”) in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”). On February 19, 2020, a unanimous Seventh Circuit panel refused to revise a putative class action in Gadelhak v. AT&T Services, Inc. after concluding that the dialing system used … Continue Reading
Kari’s Law Compliance Obligations Begin February 16, 2020
Kari’s Law, signed into law on February 16, 2018, requires organizations that use multi-line telephone systems (MLTS) to provide callers with the ability to dial 911 directly from any telephone in the system. MLTS are often used in hotels, office buildings, corporate and educational campuses, and other enterprises. As a result, a wide variety of organizations will be impacted … Continue Reading
Eleventh Cir. Rejects Broad Reading of “Autodialer”
On January 27, 2020, an Eleventh Circuit panel released a landmark ruling in Glasser v. Hilton Grand Vacations Company, LLC. The key issue in the case was how to interpret ambiguous language in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act’s (TCPA) definition of “automatic telephone dialing system” (ATDS or autodialer). In recent years, imprecise statutory phrasing and the Federal Communication Commission’s … Continue Reading
Webinar | New TRACED Act and Robocall Year in Review: What you need to know
It was a very busy year on the robocall front, and on 30 December 2019, President Trump signed into law the Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED) Act (S. 151), which the House and Senate passed by wide, bipartisan margins earlier this year.
The TRACED Act is the most significant robocall legislation in years. It requires the … Continue Reading
Congress Passes Bipartisan Robocall Legislation
On December 19, 2019, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed the Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED) Act (S. 151), which the House of Representatives passed in a 417-3 vote earlier this month. With the Senate’s passage of the reconciled bill, the bipartisan legislation now heads to President Trump’s desk for his review.
The Pallone-Thune TRACED … Continue Reading
Defense Department and FCC to Collaborate on 5G Testbeds
On October 23, 2019, the U.S. Department of Defense announced a plan to pilot 5G technologies on four military installations in partnership with private industry and the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. Lisa Porter, Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, revealed the Defense Department’s plans during an appearance at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Los Angeles with FCC Chairman … Continue Reading
California Enacts Another CCPA – Robocall Legislation
On October 2, 2019, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the Consumer Call Protection Act of 2019 to address the rise in deceptive robocalls and protect California consumers from fraudulent calls.
The law requires telecommunications service providers to implement Secure Telephony Identity Revisited (STIR) and Secure Handling of Asserted information using toKENs (SHAKEN) protocols by January 1, 2021. These protocols are … Continue Reading
U.S. Supreme Court Sidesteps Important TCPA Deference Issues
On June 20, 2019, the Supreme Court released its long-awaited decision in PDR v. Carlton & Harris Chiropractic. The Court was expected to provide greater clarity about the extent to which litigants can challenge the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) interpretations in private litigation. Instead of deciding that issue, however, the Court vacated the Fourth … Continue Reading
Study shows complexity and uncertainty of IoT regulation in Europe
A Hogan Lovells study comparing of regulatory requirements in the European Union, United States, and China shows the complexity and uncertainty of the regulatory framework relevant to Internet of Things (IoT) in Europe. The number of telecoms regulatory constraints affecting IoT in the EU is almost twice as high as in the United States and China. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) … Continue Reading
Hogan Lovells publishes Demystifying the U.S. CLOUD Act
Hogan Lovells has published Demystifying the U.S. CLOUD Act, a detailed analysis of the impact of the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act (CLOUD Act) on non-U.S. businesses and individuals who use cloud storage solutions.
Demystifying the U.S. CLOUD Act was written by Hogan Lovells partners Winston Maxwell and Mark Brennan, and senior associate Arpan Sura.
The report … Continue Reading
Eighth Circuit Finds that Bare “Technical Violations” of the TCPA Do Not Establish Standing
In St. Louis Heart Center v. Nomax, Inc., the Eighth Circuit held that an “alleged failure to provide a technically compliant opt-out notice” in a fax advertisement, without more, does not give a plaintiff Article III standing to bring a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) claim.
The Eighth Circuit’s decision requires that the alleged injury be “traceable” to statutory … Continue Reading
FCC Seeks to Refresh the TCPA Record
Now that the dust has settled from the D.C. Circuit’s highly anticipated Telephone Consumer Protection Act decision in ACA International, et al, v. FCC, the Federal Communications Commission is going back to the drawing board in a new Public Notice that seeks comment on foundational TCPA issues.
In March, the D.C. Circuit struck down the FCC’s 2015 interpretation of … Continue Reading
Hogan Lovells Obtains Major TCPA Consent Revocation Victory
On June 22, 2017, in Reyes v. Lincoln Automotive Financial Services, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit agreed with Hogan Lovells attorneys representing the defendant and held that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) does not permit a consumer to revoke her consent to be called when that consent forms part of a bilateral contract. The … Continue Reading
New U.S. Federal Law Prohibits Contracts With “Anti-Yelping” Provisions
Late last year, President Obama signed into law the Consumer Review Fairness Act (“CRFA”). Intended to protect individuals who write unflattering online reviews of businesses, the CRFA voids contractual provisions in form contracts that: (1) prohibit non-disparagement; (2) impose liquidated damages or fines for posting disparaging reviews; or (3) exert control over the review through an assignment of intellectual property … Continue Reading
Spectrum: Powering the Internet of Things
Leaders from the public and private sectors recently analyzed the relationship between federal spectrum policy and the Internet of Things (IoT) at the Fifth Annual Winnik International Telecoms and Internet Forum. In a discussion co-moderated by Hogan Lovells Partners Trey Hanbury and Mark Parsons, panelists explored the demands IoT will impose on networks and proposed regulatory strategies that … Continue Reading
Common Carriers Exempt from FTC Regulation, Ninth Circuit Holds
Last week, a unanimous Ninth Circuit panel issued a significant decision that holds that common carriers are categorically exempt from Section 5 of the FTC Act—even for activities unrelated to common carriage. See AT&T Mobility LLC. v. Fed. Trade Comm’n, No. 15-16585, 2016 WL 4501685 (9th Cir. Aug. 29, 2016). This opinion has potentially far-reaching implications for the telecommunications … Continue Reading