Legal Definitions - Washington Case-Law

Washington Case-Law refers to legal cases that have been decided in the state of Washington. One important case is Gordon v. Virtumundo, which dealt with spam emails and the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003.

The CAN-SPAM Act is a federal law that regulates commercial emails. In Gordon v. Virtumundo, the court ruled that the plaintiff did not have standing to bring a claim under the CAN-SPAM Act and that his claims based on deceptive email headers were preempted by the Act. The court also discussed how Washington's consumer protection statute would have to be interpreted to avoid preemption by the CAN-SPAM Act.

Another important case related to anti-spam laws is State v. Heckel, where the Washington Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Washington's Commercial Electronic Mail Act ("CEMA"). The court determined that CEMA protects the interests of internet service providers, owners of domain names and email addresses, and individual internet users. The court also found that CEMA's "truthfulness" requirements do not unduly burden inter-state commerce or have unconstitutional extraterritorial effects on other states.

An example of how Washington Case-Law can affect individuals is if someone receives spam emails that violate anti-spam laws. They may be able to bring a claim under state or federal law, depending on the circumstances. However, as seen in Gordon v. Virtumundo, there are certain requirements that must be met in order to bring a successful claim.