SMS Marketing Industry News

ClubTexting: Short Code Pricing Conspiracy Lawsuit

ClubTexting Class Action Lawsuit

Maybe this is retribution for T-Mobile shutting down their short code back in 2010, but we’ve just learned that SMS provider Club Texting has filed a class-action lawsuit against the major cell phone providers, the CTIA, and even SMS aggregators. This class action lawsuit claims that all the defendants (listed below) have been conspiring since 2003 to set up a system under which SMS providers must lease expensive five-digit phone numbers (Short Codes) and pay exorbitant transmission, connectivity, and content review fees, generating an extra $2.3 billion a year for the conspirators. Oh, SNAP!

Club Texting is seeking class certification, treble damages for violations of the Sherman Act, and wants the monopoly stopped.

This class action lawsuit doesn’t surprise me, as Shane Neman, CEO of Club Texting has been at war with the CTIA and their auditing process since his post back in 2011 titled CTIA’s Illegal Short Code Auditing – A Playbook to Kill America’s Wireless Innovators. He’s also since launched Group Texting, a virtual slap in the face to the CTIA, mobile phone carriers, and SMS aggregators as this service uses long code messaging (7 digit phone numbers), which doesn’t require any provisioning, auditing and are commonly used as safe havens for text message spammers.

Below is a list of defendants in the class-action lawsuit, which reads as a who’s who in the SMS marketing ecosystem.

  • Verizon Wireless
  • AT&T Mobility
  • Sprint Nextel Corporation
  • T-Mobile USA
  • U.S. Cellular Corporation
  • CTIA – The Wireless Association
  • ClearSky Mobile Media
  • Ericsson IPX
  • MBlox Incorporated
  • Syabase, Soundbite Communications
  • Syniverse Technologies
  • Upoc Networks
  • Vibes Media
  • 3Cinteractive
  • WMC Global

Do you think Club Texting has a legitimate case? What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments section below.

For more info on the case, see here.

 


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