FCC Seeks Comment on 'ATDS' Definition of TCPA After 9th Circuit's Broad Interpretation
The FCC invited further input on the definition of "automatic telephone dialing systems" covered by Telephone Consumer Protection Act restrictions, after a recent 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruling interpreted ATDS broadly, siding with a consumer's text-messaging complaint…
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in Jordan Marks v. Crunch San Diego, No. 14-56834 (see 1809210029). Comments are due Oct. 17, replies Oct. 24, said a Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau public notice Wednesday in docket 18-152. The 9th Circuit panel "interpreted the statutory language expansively so that an 'automatic telephone dialing system' is 'not limited to devices with the capacity to call numbers produced by a random or sequential number generator, but also includes devices with the capacity to store numbers and to dial stored numbers automatically,” said the PN. But it noted the D.C. Circuit's ACA International March ruling, overturning key parts of a 2015 FCC order, held that "the TCPA unambiguously foreclosed any interpretation that 'would appear to subject ordinary calls from any conventional smartphone to the Act’s coverage'" (see 1803160053). Industry parties generally seek a narrow ATDS definition, while consumer groups urge a broad definition with a carve-out for ordinary smartphone use.