Junk Fax Prevention Act of 2005

The Junk Fax Prevention Act (JFPA) of 2005, Pub.L. 109–21, 119 Stat. 359 (2005), was passed by the United States Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush on July 9, 2005. The law amends the Communications Act of 1934, significantly altering some aspects of prior amendments made by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 and the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 as they relate to the issue of junk fax.

Congress first addressed the issue of junk faxes in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA). Although this legislation dealt broadly with larger issues of nuisance telemarketing tactics, it included provisions making it illegal for any person to send an unsolicited advertisement to a fax machine. The law further authorized the recipient of a fax sent in violation of the statute (or a regulation promulgated under the statute) to sue the sender in state court to enjoin further violation, recover for actual monetary losses from such a violation, $500 in statutory damages for each violation (whichever is greater), or both. The law also allows the court, in its discretion, to treble these damages if it finds the defendant violated the statute "willfully" or "knowingly."

After the bill was enacted, many companies that continued to send junk faxes were sued, often for substantial sums. The most well-known sender of junk faxes, fax.com, was repeatedly sued by government agencies and private individuals. Most notably, the company found itself faced with a $2.2 trillion suit filed by anti-junk fax crusader Steve Kirsch. The company was eventually forced out of business, though the fax.com website has since been purchased by an unrelated company. As a result, many companies moved across the border into Canada or Mexico, or set up operations overseas to continue broadcasting into the United States.

To counter this, Congress made a small but significant amendment to the statute in the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (Public Law No. 108-187). This amendment made it illegal for sending junk faxes from within the United States, but also if they were sent into the United States from outside the country.

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