FCC Says Calls to Current Customers are not ​“Telephone Solicitations” under the TCPA

In the past month, we’ve posted two entries (here and here) regarding court decisions interpreting the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (the ​“TCPA”) in the context of mobile marketing campaigns. This morning, our colleagues at the Telecom Law Monitor posted an entry about an FCC decision interpreting the TCPA in the context of a telemarketing case. In that case, a consumer had argued that companies made unsolicited calls to him in violation of the TCPA. The FCC’s decision turned on whether the calls were ​“telephone solicitations” under the TCPA. The FCC held that unsolicited calls to a consumer were not TCPA violations because the messages were intended for current customers, not as solicitations to obtain new customers. Moreover, the telemarketer’s mistake in directing the calls to a non-customer did not make the calls actionable. This decision will make it harder for a consumer to prove a violation when communications are intended for current customers. A more detailed analysis of the decision is available here.