Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld an Indiana statute banning robocalls, concluding that the statute was evenly applied in an effort to prohibit unsolicited calls made without a recipient's consent regardless of the content of the message or the identity of the caller. Patriotic Veterans, Inc. brought suit arguing that the Indiana statute violated the First Amendment and excluded all political messaging which resulted in content-specific discrimination as applied to the organization and others like it. The non-profit organization uses political robocalls as part of its various campaigns to inform voters about candidates and their positions on veterans' issues.
Takeaway: States and the Federal Government are continuing to increase the measures taken to protect consumers from receiving unwanted cold calls and robocalls. Advertisers and marketers who use such calls are advised to note the intricacies and differences between state and federal statutes and the regulations concerning such activity.
This article is presented for informational purposes only and is not intended to constitute legal advice.