back to article Lights! Camera! Infraction! Filmmakers behind 117 million robocalls to shift DVDs

Three American film companies made 117 million illegal robo-calls to flog DVDs, a court has ruled. A jury in the Utah District Federal Court found the three outfits and their owner guilty of violating the FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) by making the millions of calls touting DVDs of their movies. Ninety-nine million of …

  1. Justin Clift

    First billion dollar fine for robocalling?

    Hopefully. :)

    1. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

      Re: First billion dollar fine for robocalling?

      Only a billion? Try 1.9 trillion!

    2. tmTM

      Re: First billion dollar fine for robocalling?

      Just a pity the British equivalent isn't as effective.

      Instead of including individual executives, they'd just take the already liquidated company to court, then make some moronic announcement about "recovering the fine".

      Blood from a stone anyone?

  2. kain preacher

    Why did these folks even got to trial ?

  3. Mark 85

    Oh please hit them with the max fine... please... please... and then go after the "we need to talk about your credit cards and balances" people.

  4. Alan Brown Silver badge

    Note who's doing the enforcing.

    FTC _and_ FCC

    meantime in blighty, Ofcom gets to play chocolate teapot whilst trading standards fiddle.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Note who's doing the enforcing.

      meantime in blighty, Ofcom gets to play chocolate teapot whilst trading standards fiddle.

      That's becuase trading standards have bugger all to do with nuisance calls and it's usually the ICO that do the fining (OFCOM work with the ICO on this sort of thing).

  5. Sebastian A

    Of course we know exactly what happens next.

    Feature Films for Families, Inc, Corporations for Character, LC and Family Films of Utah will have been rolled up, and Forrest S Baker III will mysteriously be running a few entirely unrelated limited liability companies called "Family Feature Films", "Character Corporations" and "Utah Family Films".

    Forrest will be quoted as saying "A few bad actors in a previous business venture have caused me significant personal distress and I will hasten to add that they are no longer with us. If anyone tries to impugn my character I shall be seeing them in court for defamation and libel/slander."

  6. Oengus

    Call for treble damages

    117 million violations has to be "willful". Have the penalty trebled and give the victims (not the lawyers) some compensation.

  7. zaax

    Proceeds of crime - take the lot, incuding his house.

  8. Nameless Faceless Computer User

    Now onto the other millions of calls about Canadian pharmacy, you've won a free cruise, I'm from Microsoft to help you with a security problem, and you owe us a huge amount of money - please confirm your identity.

  9. MrTuK

    Now if only this could be done for all the attempted forced Win 10 upgrades to people as well and especially to those that the upgrade failed on and had to resort the a clean installation so costing time and internet bandwdith !

  10. David Woodhead

    Good luck with that

    By the time that this is resolved, do we really think that there will be any money left to pay any fines and / or compensation?

    I don't think so.

    1. Fatman

      Re: Good luck with that

      You are probably right on that score.

      Note the use of corporations here, they act as firewalls, and those involved only lose their investment.

      UNLESS, they go after the principals PERSONALLY.

      THEN you have a different ballgame.

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