Legal Question in Business Law in California

Re: Are unsolicited faxes illegal?

Unsolicited broadcast fax restrictions are addressed under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (Title 47, Chapter 5, Subchapter II - Common Carriers) The Act makes it unlawful to send an unsolicited advertisement to a telephone facsimile machine. (It also makes it unlawful to initiate a telephone call to any residential telephone line using an artificial or prerecorded voice to deliver a message without the prior express consent of the called party, unless the call is initiated for emergency purposes or is exempted by a Federal Communications Commission rule or order.)

Senders of unsolicited faxes are required to provide a means by which the person receiving a fax can, without cost to him or her, request termination of the receipt of unsolicited faxes from the sender.

The Act provides that a person or entity may, if otherwise permitted by the laws or rules of court of a State, bring an action to recover actual monetary loss from a violation, or to receive $500 in damages for each such violation, whichever is greater. If the court finds that the sender willfully or knowingly violated the requirements of the Act or regulations, it may increase the amount of the award to an amount equal to not more than 3 times the amount of damages or $1,500, whichever is greater.