The Washington Supreme Court has just handed down a decision significantly expanding the scope of its anti-spam law to now cover a wide array of false advertising claims relating specifically to commercial emails. The case, Brown v. Old Navy, has substantial implications for companies that use email for marketing to consumers in Washington state.
Washington enacted the Commercial Electronic Mail Act ("CEMA") in 1998 to address email spam because in 1998 many consumers paid for internet access by the minute. Commercial emails that were disguised to look like personal emails, with subjects like "Hi" or "We need to talk," caused consumers to waste minutes downloading these emails only to find that they were just commercial solicitations. CEMA thus prohibits anyone from sending a commercial email to a Washington resident that (1) uses a third-party's internet domain without permission or otherwise disguises the origin of an email, or (2) "contains false or misleading information in the subject line."
The plaintiff in Brown alleged that Old Navy sent emails to Washington consumers with false claims about sales in the subject line...
