Correspondence: Raj Srivastava, Management and Marketing Department, Jennings A. Jones College of Business, Middle Tennessee State University PO Box 442, Murfreesboro, TN 37132, USA Tel: +1 615 898 2780; Fax: +1 615 898 5308; e-mail: raj@mtsu.edu

¹is an assistant professor of marketing and Department Head in the Department of Marketing and Hospitality at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She has held several senior marketing research positions in industry and has owned and operated her own marketing research firm for over ten years. She has authored and co-authored numerous papers in refereed academic and trade journals such as Journal of Targeting, Measurement, and Analysis for Marketing, Journal of Marketing Channels, Total Quality Management Journal and Quality Progress.

²is an associate professor of marketing in the Department of Marketing and Management at the Middle Tennessee State University. He has also taught at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He has authored or co-authored papers in refereed academic journals such as Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, Journal of Marketing Channels and Industrial Marketing Management, among others.

³holds a Juris Doctorate from Louisiana State University and is a professor of legal studies in the B.I. Moody, III College of Business Administration, where she has been teaching since 1981. She holds the Ramon E. Billeaud Professorship in Business. Over her teaching career, she has developed new law courses such as Mineral Law and Cyberlaw. She has published papers in both legal and business journals, and is a contributing editor for the Bisk CPA Review.

Received 6 November 2007; Revised 6 November 2007; Published online 10 December 2007.

Abstract

The Junk Fax Prevention Act (JFPA), which became effective on 5th July, 2005, has revived the junk-fax as a viable marketing tool. The new Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations, which became effective on 1st August, 2006, clarify when and to whom a fax may legally be sent by defining terms such as an 'unsolicited advertisement' and an 'established business relationship.' These clarifications allow the businessperson much more certainty and latitude in the use of facsimile advertising. This paper examines the new law and regulations, as well as the FCC enforcement actions and court cases that have arisen since the enactment of the JFPA.