The answers to those questions may prove critical when Minnesota jurists consider a lawsuit in Minnesota lobbed at the AMC theater chain.

Andria Addison has alleged in a complaint just filed that AMC violated a federal text spam law. Addison is seeking class action status on the case.

“As part of their effort to promote business, defendants engaged in an especially aggressive and deleterious form of marketing: the transmission of unauthorized advertisements, in the form of ‘text message’ calls to the cellular telephones of consumers throughout the nation,” states the complaint, as reported by MediaPost.

Addison was upset when the chain sent her an unsolicited coupon via text in late April. The phone message may have been sent to all consumers enrolled in AMC’s “stubs” program. Addison admits she enrolled in “stubs” in 2012, but says she allowed her membership to lapse within a year.

“Her lawsuit alleges that transmitting the message violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which prohibits companies from using automated dialers to send text ads to consumers without their written permission,” notes MediaPost. “Addison also accuses the Leawood, Kansas-based theater chain of violating the anti-spam law with a mobile marketing campaign that involved offering consumers incentives — like a $1 soda coupon — in exchange for their cell phone numbers.”

SMS efforts have been under fire in recent years. Most firms say they do not rely on automated dialers, but work from generated lists of consumers who have agreed to receive notifications of various sorts.

The post Not All Popcorn and Skittles in Theater Biz: AMC Chain Accused of Text Spam Violations appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The company has been accused of sending SMS messages to consumers without first inviting them to join their service, and the recent ruling to toss their dismissal argument allows the class-action lawsuit filed by Illinois resident Kevin Sterk to proceed.

Filed in March 2013, Sterk’s complaint alleges that the social networking service violated TCPA laws by sending SMS ads using auto dialers without first getting permission from recipients. In his complaint Sterk alleges that an unsolicited text was sent to him by Path telling him that another Path user wanted to show him photos on the service’s website, and that the same message also had a link to that website with instructions on how to register and join.

Path argued that, since their company was relying on “human intervention” and only sent messages to people whose phone numbers were provided by the already existing Path users, they weren’t using an automated dialing system.

U.S. District Court Judge Samuel Der-Yeghiayan disagreed with their argument.  He ruled that “The undisputed evidence shows that the equipment used by Path’s agent made calls from the list without human intervention,” adding “It is such calling that the section of the TCPA at issue in this case covers, not the collection of numbers for storage.”

Path has a number of other arguments pending, but this round definitely goes to the US District Court.

The post Evidence Shows that Path Violated TCPA with Mobile SPAM appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.