Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Timberland laces up $7M text spam settlement

By Mass High Tech Staff

Granite State maker of shoes and clothing The Timberland Co. has settled a class action lawsuit over alleged transmission of text message spam ads to the cell phones of consumers nationwide.

The settlement by Timberland’s e-commerce partner GSI Commerce Inc. of Pennsylvania and Stratham, N.H.-based Timberland establishes a $7 million cash settlement fund from which payments of $150 will be made to each person who received the text spam, according to the companies.

Although the settlement was preliminarily approved Sept. 11, 2008 by a federal court in Chicago, both Timberland and GSI have denied any wrongful conduct. They state that  “a completely separate and independent company” was responsible for getting the consent of the individuals that received the text messages.

In addition to the $7 million fund, the settlement provides a donation in the amount of $200,000 to an unnamed local charity. According to the law firms appointed by the court for the class action suit, the agreement is the first major nationwide settlement of its kind under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act for the receipt of unauthorized text messages.

GSI counts among its clients Major League Baseball, Toys ’R Us and Bedford-based robotics firm iRobot Corp.