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U.S. Court of Appeals Denies Claim under CAN SPAM Act
The recent decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit limits the extent to which inaccuracies in commercial emails, or “spam”, will be considered a basis for liability under the CAN-SPAM Act (the “Act”) and local state laws. The Court found, in the case of Omega World Travel v. Mummagraphics Inc., that the Act pre-empted a claim under similar legislation in Oklahoma and reinforced a national standard of liability for commercial emails that requires more than mere error.
The case involved a series of commercial email advertisements sent out by Cruise.com that contained several inaccuracies, such as providing incorrect domain addresses in the header as the sending organization, and allegedly failed to comply with the requirements under the Act to provide an opt-out provision. The Court found that although the Act does offer protection against providing erroneous information, something more than a simple mistake or immaterial error is required, notwithstanding that the Oklahoma legislation may seem to imply a lower standard. In this case, it was determined that the incorrect domain addresses in the emails were not material and therefore were not caught by the Act or the local state legislation. Also, the alleged violations of the Act’s opt-out provisions were rejected because there was no evidence of a “pattern or practice” of violations. In reaching this decision, the Court recognized that the Act does not make “every error or opt-out request into grounds for a lawsuit”.
For a copy of the decision, visit: