Spam. It’s not just something that shows up in your email inbox from time to time, promising anatomical enhancements and luxury R0l3xes; sometimes it makes its way to your cell phone unbidden, leaving you with no recourse but to delete it… or sue whoever sent it to you, which is what one guy is doing after saying he got unsolicited texts messages from Universal Pictures pushing its movie based on a video game Warcraft.
The man filed a lawsuit seeking class-action status in Florida federal court on Thursday, The Hollywood Reporter reports, after receiving a message on his cell phone that he says he never signed up for.
“Hello from the Warcraft Movie team. You are one of the chosen few invited to join the fight today. Will you lead the Horde or Alliance to Victory?” says one of the promotional texts, with a link to the film’s page on Fandango.
The man claims Universal violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by sending the messages without his permission: he says he never gave Universal his number nor gave the studio consent to call or text him. The number used to send the messages is owned by Twilio, which is a company that allows users to send texts in bulk.
“Given the pervasive and prevalent usage of mass, mobile marketing that violates TCPA protections, as Defendant has done here, Twilio provides clients with warnings to not use their service to violate the TCPA,” states the complaint. “But, by sending unsolicited text messages without express consent and not pursuant to an ongoing emergency, Defendant did in fact use Twilio’s mass, mobile marketing capabilities to violate the TCPA.”
The proposed class is defined as anyone in the U.S. who got one or more texts from Universal. The plaintiff is seeking $500 in statutory damages per violation for himself and each class member. Universal hasn’t commented on the lawsuit.
Universal Pictures Sued for Sending “Spam” ‘Warcraft’ Texts to Moviegoers [The Hollywood Reporter]
by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist
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