At Findlaw, Anity Ramastry discusses: Why A Utah Court Was Right to Hold That, Under Utah Law, Pop-up Ads Are Not “Spam”
Computer users are often bombarded with annoying pop-up advertisements. Separately, they also are often bombarded with annoying “spam”– unsolicited commercial email. Can the pop-up ads be thought of, legally, as a form of spam?
According to a January 6 ruling by the Utah Court of Appeals, under Utah law, the answer is no. As a result, consumers cannot use the state’s anti-spam statute as a basis for a suit against those responsible for pop-up ads. The decision is significant for, to my knowledge, it is the first of its kind.
Riddle v. Celebrity Cruises, 2004 UT App 487 (Dec. 30, 2004).
