TCPA Primer
A reference work in ten parts

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act, explained

The TCPA is a 1991 federal statute, 47 U.S.C. § 227, that restricts automated calls, prerecorded and artificial voices, unsolicited faxes, and calls to numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry, and gives the person called a private right to sue for $500 to $1,500 per violation. This site explains the law as a good encyclopedia would: where it came from, what the text says, how the Federal Communications Commission has implemented it, how the courts have read it, and what the states have added. It is written for in-house counsel, compliance leads, and owners who want the law rather than a sales pitch about it.

Contents

  1. I
    History of the TCPA, 1991 to 2025

    How the Telephone Consumer Protection Act was enacted in 1991 and what the FCC, Congress and the courts have done to it since, decade by decade.

  2. II
    What 47 U.S.C. § 227 actually says

    The text of 47 U.S.C. § 227 explained subsection by subsection: definitions, automated equipment, do-not-call, caller ID, state law and enforcement.

  3. III
    Autodialers and the ATDS definition after Duguid

    What an automatic telephone dialing system is under the TCPA, how the FCC and circuits read it, and how the Supreme Court settled it in 2021.

  4. IV
    Prerecorded, artificial and AI-generated voice calls

    The artificial or prerecorded voice prong of the TCPA, the consent it requires, and the FCC’s 2024 ruling that AI-generated voices are artificial.

  5. V
    The National Do Not Call Registry and company-specific lists

    How the National Do Not Call Registry works, the 31-day scrub, the established business relationship exemption, internal lists, and the safe harbour.

  6. VI
    Text messages under the TCPA

    Why a text is a call under the TCPA, which consent applies to marketing texts, how STOP works, and what Florida adds for texts.

  7. VII
    Consent: express, express written, and revocation

    The three consent questions under the TCPA: prior express consent, prior express written consent under 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(f), and how consent is revoked.

  8. VIII
    Damages and remedies under the TCPA

    Statutory damages of $500 per violation, trebling to $1,500, injunctions, the four-year limitations period, class actions, and government enforcement.

  9. IX
    State telemarketing laws: Florida, Oklahoma, Washington, Maryland, Texas

    The state statutes that sit alongside the TCPA: the Florida Telephone Solicitation Act, Oklahoma’s 2022 act, Washington, Maryland and Texas.

  10. X
    Key TCPA cases

    The Supreme Court and appellate decisions that shape the TCPA today, from Mims and Campbell-Ewald to Duguid, Barr and the 2025 one-to-one vacatur.

  11. xi
    About this reference

    Publisher, scope, sources and how entries are reviewed.