Club Texting, Inc. v. T-Mobile USA, Inc.

Filing 14

DECLARATION of Shahriyar Neman in Support re: 6 Order to Show Cause,,,. Document filed by Club Texting, Inc.. (Robinson, Jayne)

IN THE UNITED STATESDISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK CLUBTEXTING,INC. d/b/A EZ TEXTING,INC.
Plaintif!

T - M O B I L EUSA, INC. Defendant.

C i v i l ActionNo.

I , Shahriyar (',Shane,,) Neman, declare pursuant 2g U.S.C.g 1746: to 1. I am the Chief Executive Officer of Club Texting,Inc. dlbla EZ Texting,Inc.

( " E Z Texting"). I submitthis Declaration pursuanr Fed.R. Civ. p. 65(b) and hcal Rule to 6 . 1 ( d )in supportof Plaintiff'sapplication a temporary for restraining order and an Order to S h o wCause a preliminary for injunction enjoining Defendant T-MobileUSA, Inc. (,,T_Mobile,,) f r c m blocking textmessages andfrom EZ Texting. to 2. Ez'fexting filed this action basedon T-Mobile,s unlawtut blocking of its

customers' messages beingsentto or received EZ Texting,ssho code313131, practice by a t h a tT-Mobilebegan or aboutFriday,September 2010andwhich hascontinued on 10, unabated despite demand EZ TextingthatT-Mobilestopthisunlawfulaction. by 3. EZ Textingis beingirreparably damaged its business in because the blocking of

b y T-Mobile. The abilityto exchange message with all cell phoneusers vital to EZ text calls is T e x t i n g ' sbusiness.The thousands EZ Texting,s _ of customers which includeboth for_profit b u s i n e s s e s non-profit and organizationsthatrely on EZ Texting,s shortcode(whichis akinto a

telephone number textmessages) for cannot reached T-Mobile'scell phone be by usen, nor can those businesses non-profits irnd reach T-Mobile'scellphone users.

A.

EZ Textins's Business
4. EZ Texting was formed in 2006 fo provide mobile marketingseNicesto

b u s i n e s s e s non-profits. and 5. EZ Textingprovides and implements interaclive messaging text promotions, and

i t s business modeldepends "shortcodes"beingconngcted the nation'svariouswireless on to s e r y i c eproviders, includingT-Mobile. EZ Texting's sho code allows cell phoneusersto exchange text messages with EZ Texting'scustomers, which, again,includeboth for-profit b u s i n e s s e s non-profit and organizations. 6. EZ Texting'sshortcodeis a six digit telephone (313131), number which allows

c e l l phoneusers sendtext messages EZ Texting. EZ Textingalsousesthe sholt codeto to to c o n t a c t phoneusers cell who haveexpressed interest EZ Texting'smarketing "opting an in by i n " to EZ Texting'sshortcode. In otherwords,EZ Textingdoes sendtext messages cell not to phone users unless theyhaveasked receive to them. (And,a customer always can change or his h e rmind andstopreceiving suchmessages request.) upon '7, EZ Textlngprovides what is known as "grcup" text messaging.EZ Texting's

s h o r tcodeis sharcd a vadetyof businesses non-profits communicate cell phone by and 1() with u s e r s . EZ Textingoffe$ a lessexpensive mobile-marketing alternative businesses nonto and p r o f i t swho cannotafford to obtainor will not derivesufficientvaluefrom owningtheir own s h o r tcode.

8.

A shared shortcodeis commonin the rnobilemarketing industry,and usedby

m a n y other mobile marketingcompanies similar to EZ Texting,companies with which EZ T e x t i n gcompetes. 9. The shared shoftcodeallowsa varietyof businesses non-profits useEZ and to

Texting's software market to theirproducts services existing potential and to and customers with t e x tmessages. example, partyrental For a company mayadvertise a potential to customer text to " P A R T Y " to 313131to receiveinformationaboul the rentalservices provided. A church c u s t o m elikewisecouldsendits services r schedulc a cell phoneuserwho texted"CHURCH" to t o 313131. 10. Again, cell phoneusersonly receivetext message calls from EZ Texting's

c u s t o m e rafter theyaffirmatively s request that suchtext messages sentto them. Moreover, be c o n s u m e rcanstoprecaiving s these messages whenever they wanl. EZ Textingdoesnot send u n w a n t e d messaggs anybusiness non-profit text from or organization. 11. These businesses non-prcfits and enterinto contracts with EZ Texting,who helps

t h e m designand monitortheir marketing campaigns ensurcthey comply with the myriad to wireless providers' service guidelines rules. EZ Textinghascreated and software which allows t h e businesses non-profits set up the text messages will selldin response a cell and to they to phone user'stextmessage them. to 12. EZ Textinghas a rigoroussqeeningprocess ensure to that the businesses and

non-profits that use EZ Texting to send text messages doing so in compliance ate with all a p p l i c a b llawsandregulations. e

B.

The WirelessSen ice Providers 13. EZ Texting'sbusiness, its competitors', like depends beingconnected the on to

n a t i o n ' swirelessserviceproviders, that the businesses non-profits so and can exchange text m e s s a g e s thewireless with providers, service customers. 14. The wireless providers, service suchasT-Mobile,do not link directlywith short

c o d eholders EZ Texting. Instead, wircless like the carriers, agents, knownas,.aggregators,,, are u s u a l l yconnected companies EZ Texting. Thus,EZ Texting,s to like networkis thusindirectly i n t e r c o n n e c t e d T-Mobilefor purposes exchanging message with of text calls. 15. The aggregator issuein this casefor T-Mobil is OpenMarket,Inc. (.,Open at

M a t k e t " ) . EZ Textingconnects througha company called4INFO, Inc. (.,41NFO,,) rhen who c o n n e c tto OpenMarket. s 16. In otherwords,EZ Textingis connected 4INFOwho connects OpeD to to Market

w h o thenconnects T-Mobile. to 17. 18. EZ Texting's network thusindiroctly is interconnected T-Mobile. with EZ Textinghasbeenindirectly connected T-Mobilefor over3 years.T-Mobile to

h a snever blocked Textingbefore EZ now. C. Unlawful BlockingBy T-Mobile 19. On or aboutThursday, September 2010,EZ Textinglearned 9, throughindustry

contacts that unnamed providers wireless had learned a business of usingEZ Texting,sshort c o d ethattheydid not apprcve of. 20. This EZ TextingshorFcode user's website ofwhich these unnamed wircless

providers reportedly not approve, did http://www.legalmarijuanadispensary.com (the,,website,'), contains infomationregarding accessing medical legal marijuana Califomia otherstates in and

where is legal. Thewebsite it adve isedthatusers who sought relevalrt informatlon could receive suchinfomationby usingEZ Texting,s shortcodes.Cell phone users, including T-Mobile's, havebeenreceiving suchinformation from thispalticular Texhng EZ cusromer v1a s h o r tcode313131 withoutincident sinceapproximately 2009. June 21. Because medical marijuana legalin California theotherstates is and identified on

t h ewebsite, thewebsite not advocate and did illegaldruguseor medical marijuana in places use w h e r eit was not legal,thereis nothingillegal or objectionable aboutthis websiteusing text m o s s a gcallsto communicate interested e with parties. 22. The website alsofollowedthe same.,opt_in,, requirements sendtext messages to cell phone

a s everyotherbusiness.Text messages conceming website this were only sentto users who specifically requested information from thewebsite. 23.

On or about Thursday, September 2010,EZ Textinglearned 9, from OpenMarket

a n d 4INFO that unnamed wirelessserviceprovidersfound the websiteobjectionable.EZ T e x t i n g also leamedthat thoseunnamed wirelessserviceproviders plannedon blockingEZ

T e x t i n g ' scustomer's messages text based thewebsite, on well overa yearaftercell phoneusers h a dbeen communicating thisEZ Textingcustomer with withoutincident. 24. Althoughthe website lawful andunobjectionable, avoidwholesale is to injury to

a l l of EZ Texting'scustomers EZ Texting,srelationships and with its customers, Texting EZ immediately had the websitercmoveEZ Texting,sshoit code and relatedwebpage avoid to b e i n gblockedby any wireless service provider. EZ Textingalso suspended customer the in q u e s t i o l ' suseofEZ Texting,s 313131 shortcode. 25. On or aboutThursday, September 2010,EZ Textingcommunicated Open 9, to

M a r k e tand4INFOthatthewebsite, EZ Texting'srcquest, longeradvertised Textins,s at no EZ

messages or fiom the to shortcode,andthatEZ Textingwasno longerservingthis customer's and belief, OpenMarketor 4INFO or both contacted 3 1 3 1 3 1shortcode. Upotr Information T-Mobilethat the website hadbeentakendown. This all occuredon or T - M o b i t eandalerted T-Mobilebegan blocking. about Thursday, September 2010,evenbefore 9, 26. 10, Startingon or about Friday, September 2010, however,T-Mobile began

to text messages or f:r:,mall of F7' i l l e g a l l yblockingits customers from sending receiving or from EZ Texting'sshortcode, sent T e x t i n g ' scustomers blockingall messages to or received by 313131. 27. 10,2010, EZ Texting and its representatives On or aboutFriday,September

T-Mobilewas blocking contacted T-Mobile,OpenMarket,and4INFO to deteminethe reason t e x tmessages andfrom EZ Texting. to 28, T-Mobile and its representatives confirmedthat T-Mobile was blocking EZ

from EZ Texting's eventhoughthe websitehadbeenremoved T e x t i n gbased the website, on s h o r tcode. 29. and to In otherwords,evenwhenEZ Textingacceded T-Mobile's(unreasonable

EZ u n l a w f u l ) demandsimply to preventfurther damageto EZ Texting's entire business, shoficode wasstill blocked T-Mobile. by Texting's 30. of that they did not approve shared also T-Mobile and its representatives stated

EZ shared shortcode. s h o r tcodes, at least, Texting's or 31,. to T-Mobileallowsothercompanies useshared knowledge, Based my industry on

with to text s h o r tcodes exchange messages T-Mobile'scustomeN. 32. with the teminatedits ielationship Even thoughEZ Texting had immediately

T-Mobilehascontinued that and w e b s i t e issue communicated fact to T-Mobileandits agents, at

to blockEZ Texting'sshottcodesinceFriday,September 2010. This actionhasimperiled 10, E Z Texting'srelationship with all of its custome$, whose identities cannot I rcvealfor fearthat E Z Texting's competitors, arenot havingmessages andfrom theirshoficodes who to unlawfully b l o c k e d T-Mobile,soliciting by these customels. 33. Despiteall of EZ Texting,seffortsto haveits indircctinterconnection T_ with

M o b i l eunblocked, T-Mobilehasrefused. 34, T-Mobilehasstated that it will not stopblockingtext messages exchanged with

E Z Textingover the existingindirectinterconnection facilities. Rather, T_Mobilehasdirected t h a tEZ Textingstartthisindirect interconnection process entirelyanew, eventhough Texting EZ h a sbeeninterconnected T-Mobile for over threeyearslor purposes exchanging with of text messages. 35. Re-starting the indirect-interconnection prccess to create new indirect

interconnection facilitieswould takeapproximately monthsandcreate six significant, ngedless e x p e n s e EZ Texting,andagainimperil all of EZ Texting,s for existingcustomer relationships. D u r i n g this six month (or perhaps longer)period,text messages and from EZ Texting,s to c u s t o m e rwould remain s blocked T-Mobile. To my knowledge, by T-Mobilehasnot subjected a n yothermobilemarketing company similarto EZ Textingto sucha burdensome process. 36. To my knowledge, T-Mobileis connected a number to ofother mobile-markeling

c o m p a n i ewith which EZ Textingcompetes, s suchasTwitter(twitter.com), Clickatell(pty) Ltd ( c l i c k a t e l l . c o m )TextMarks,Inc. (TextMarks.com), , 4INFO, Inc. (4info.com),Opt It, Inc. ( O p t i t . c o m ) ,Tatango,Inc. (Tatango.com), Docircle, lnc. d,ibla Trumpia (Trumpia.com), I z i g g . c o mProtexting.com, , Involvemobile.com, mobilestom(mobileStorm.com). and

37.

Otherwireless service prcviders were alsoawareof the websitewith which T-

M o b i l etookissue, no otherwireless but carriers haveblocked Textingbecause it. EZ of D. IrreparableHarm 38. EZ Textingis being irrepambly harmedby T-Mobile'sblocking. EZ Texting

f a c e s immediate the deshuction ofits business T-Mobile'sunlawfulblockinscontinues. if 39. The essence EZ Texting's business the ability to serd and rccaivetext of is

m e s s a g eto and from any cell phoneuser. T-Mobile'sblockingtext messages s directlyand negatively impactsEZ Texting'sbusiness, T-Mobile controlsaccess many millions of to as wireless consumers throughout country. the 40. A T-Mobilecustomor is blocked that cannot access of thecontent any which they

d e s i r c ,includingthe non-website contentthat T-Mobile nevertook any issuewith. Access to t h a tcontent lateris not a substitute earlier for blocked conteflt. 41. T-Mobilehasmillionsof customers theUnitedStates.EZ Texting's in customers

c a n n o t exchange text message calls with T-Mobile's customers because the blocking of m a i n t a i n eby T-Mobile. d 42. The businesses non-profits and that use EZ Texting to send and (eceivetext

m e s s a g e s stopusingEZ Textingif theycannot reached T-Mobile'scustomers will be by because E Z Texting's competitorc notbeingblocked T-Mobile. are by 43. EZ Textinghasalready businesses non-profits had and contact Textingabout EZ

t h einabilityto exchange messages T-Mobilecustomers. T-Mobile'scall-blocking text with If is n o t enjoined, Texting will lose some or all of thesecustomers competitors, EZ EZ to and goodwillwill be forever Texting's impaired.

44,

EZ Texting also cannotattractnew business because T-Mobile'sblocking. of

G i v e nthecompetitive mobile-marketing marketplace, businesses non-profits notuseEZ and will T e x t i n g if they cannotexchange text messages with T-Mobile, particularlywhen there are various market participants whose shortcodes not beingblocked T-Mobile. are by 45. It will be inherently difficult, if not impossible, EZ Textingto quanfifythe for

damage T-Mobileis causing by blockingits sho code. it 46. EZ Textingwill beput out of business ifbusinesses non-profits not useEZ and do

Texting's services EZ Textingcannot and attmct newbusiness. 47, T-Mobile customers will stop - and presumably have stopped sendingEZ

T e x t i n gtextmessages thattheyargblocked T-Mobile. now by 48. The valueof EZ Texting'sshortcode,and therefore Texting'sbusiness, EZ is

irreparably damaged cell phone users,businesses, non-prcfitsview it as subjectto if and b l o c k i n g T-Mobile. by 49. 50. EZ Textingis beingirreparably harmed T-Mobile'sblocking. by If T-Mobile is enjoined from blockingEZ Texting'stext messages, parties the

w i l l simplybe restored thesame to relationship werein beforeFriday,September they 10,2010. A g a i n , T-Mobile'scustomers interacted without incidentwith the va ous users shortcode of 3 1 3 1 3 1including website , the userthatT-Mobiletookissue with, sincethatuserbegan usingthe s h o r tcodein June 2009,andwell before that. 51. T-Mobilewill experience burden unblocking Texting. no in EZ

blockon nextpage] lsignature

th I declareunderpenaltyof peiury underthe laws of the United Statesof Americathat foregoingis true andcorrect.

on: Executed

f///l/o

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