Also known as: facsimiles · fax · facsimile copy
Written by attorneys — see sources below.
An exact copy of an original document, signature, or seal produced by any process that accurately reproduces the original. The reproduction may be created by photographic, electronic, or other means and carries the same legal effect as the original when properly identified.
Ferrum Metals affixes its corporate seal to stock certificates by impressing a metal die. To speed processing for a large issuance, the corporate secretary instead applies a facsimile of the seal by rubber stamp on the remaining certificates. The stamped reproductions satisfy the statutory requirement for use of the seal or its facsimile.
Francesca Fiore, a university librarian, reproduces a deteriorating 1925 novel by scanning it and printing a facsimile edition on acid-free paper. The library makes the facsimile available for research because the original is no longer commercially exploited and no replacement is reasonably available.
In 1998 Congress enacted the Copyright Term Extension Act, which extended the duration of all federal copyrights by twenty years. For works created by identified natural persons the new term runs from creation until seventy years after the author's death. For anonymous works, pseudonymous works, and works made for hire the term is ninety-five years from publication or one hundred twenty years from creation, whichever expires first. The statute applied these extended terms both to copyrights already in existence and to works created after its effective date. Petitioners are individuals and businesses whose products or services build on copyrighted works that have gone into the public domain. They filed suit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia seeking a declaration that the extension of existing copyrights exceeded Congress's power under the Copyright Clause and violated the First Amendment. On cross-motions for judgment on the pleadings the district court entered judgment for the Attorney General. The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit affirmed. A majority of the panel upheld the statute against both challenges, while Judge Sentelle dissented in part on the Copyright Clause issue. The Supreme Court granted certiorari to address whether the extension of existing copyrights exceeds Congress's power under the Copyright Clause and whether the extension violates the First Amendment.
View caseFloyd Franklin's company sends thousands of unsolicited emails to CompuServe subscribers. When ordered to stop, the company claims no adequate alternatives exist. The court notes that facsimile transmissions remain available as a conventional means of reaching the same recipients without burdening the email system.
CompuServe Incorporated operates one of the major national commercial online computer services through a proprietary nationwide computer network that provides subscribers with access to its content and a link to the Internet for exchanging electronic mail. Defendants Cyber Promotions, Inc. and its president Sanford Wallace are in the business of sending unsolicited e-mail advertisements on behalf of themselves and their clients to hundreds of thousands of Internet users, many of whom are CompuServe subscribers. Over the past several months, CompuServe received many complaints from subscribers threatening to discontinue their subscriptions unless the company prohibited electronic mass mailers from using its equipment. In or around October 1995, CompuServe employee Jon Schmidt specifically told Sanford Wallace that he was prohibited from using CompuServe's equipment to send junk e-mail messages. CompuServe later posted an online policy statement declaring that it does not permit its facilities to be used by unauthorized parties to process and store unsolicited e-mail. Despite the notification, defendants sent an increasing volume of e-mail solicitations to CompuServe subscribers. CompuServe attempted to block the messages with software programs, but defendants modified their equipment and messages to circumvent the screening by falsifying the point-of-origin information in the headers, removing sender information, and configuring their servers to conceal their true domain name. CompuServe submitted affidavits from software developer Michael Mangino on the burden to its equipment, customer service manager Patrick Hole on receiving approximately 9,970 e-mail complaints in November 1996, and others documenting the evasion tactics. On October 24, 1996, the court issued a temporary restraining order, and following a hearing on December 15, 1996, the court considered CompuServe's application for a preliminary injunction to extend the order and enjoin defendants from sending any unsolicited advertisements to CompuServe subscribers.
View caseFumiko Fujimoto cites an 1828 dictionary in a brief on the Appointments Clause. The edition used is a modern facsimile reprint. The court accepts the facsimile as authoritative evidence of the word's meaning at the time of the founding.
In 2002 Congress enacted the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which created the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board as a five-member entity appointed by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Board oversees audits of public companies and possesses authority to inspect registered accounting firms, initiate investigations, and issue sanctions. Beckstead and Watts, LLP, a Nevada accounting firm, registered with the Board. The Board inspected the firm, released a report critical of its auditing procedures, and began a formal investigation. Free Enterprise Fund, a nonprofit organization of which the firm is a member, and Beckstead and Watts sued the Board and its members, the Commission, and the United States in federal district court. They sought declaratory and injunctive relief alleging that the Board's structure violated the Constitution. The district court determined it had jurisdiction and granted summary judgment to the defendants. The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit affirmed the district court's judgment in full. The Supreme Court granted certiorari.
View caseFelicia Fuentes is prosecuted for mailing an advertising brochure. The government introduces a facsimile of the brochure's cover page showing explicit images. The facsimile is admitted because it accurately reproduces the original and the original itself is available for inspection.
On March 5, 1971, a grand jury in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California indicted petitioners William L. Hamling, Earl Kemp, Shirley R. Wright, David L. Thomas, Reed Enterprises, Inc., and Library Service, Inc., on 21 counts charging use of the mails to carry an obscene book and an obscene advertisement, and conspiracy in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2, 371, and 1461. The advertisement was a single sheet brochure mailed to approximately 55,000 persons in various parts of the United States. One side of the brochure contained a collage of photographs from the Illustrated Report portraying heterosexual and homosexual intercourse, sodomy, and a variety of deviate sexual acts. The other side gave information and an order blank from which the Illustrated Report could be ordered. The District Court denied petitioners' pretrial motions to dismiss the indictment and to strike the venire. The mailing of the brochures was accomplished by petitioners through the use of other businesses. Approximately 55,000-58,000 of these brochures were placed in envelopes and postage was affixed by Richard and Venita Harte, who operate the Academy Addressing and Mailing Service. The brochures and the Pitney-Bowes meter number were supplied by Bernard Lieberman of Regent House, Inc., of North Hollywood, California, who on January 11, 1971, had paid the United States Postal Service to set $3,300 worth of postage on the meter number. Regent House was billed $541.15 by the Hartes for their services and in turn charged Reed Enterprises, Inc., which paid the bill on January 19, 1971, with a check signed by petitioner Hamling. Those responding to the brochure would be sent copies of the Illustrated Report. The copies would be mailed with postage affixed by a second Pitney-Bowes meter number installed at Library Service, Inc. The evidence indicated that the individual petitioners were officers in the corporate petitioners. They were involved with selling the Illustrated Report, which entailed mailing out the advertising brochure. Petitioner Hamling, as president of Reed Enterprises, Inc., signed the check in payment to Regent House. Petitioner Kemp was the editor of the Illustrated Report and vice president of Library Service, Inc., and signed the application for the post office box in San Diego. Petitioner Thomas signed the rental agreement for the postage meter used in sending copies of the Illustrated Report. Petitioner Wright was the secretary of Reed Enterprises, Inc., and Greenleaf Classics, Inc., and assisted in obtaining Kemp's signature on the post office box application. At trial the jury convicted the petitioners on December 23, 1971, on 12 counts of mailing and conspiring to mail the obscene advertisement. The jury was unable to reach a verdict with regard to the counts charging the mailing of the allegedly obscene Illustrated Report. The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the convictions. The Supreme Court granted certiorari to review the case.
View caseFabian Flynn books a cruise and later disputes the forum-selection clause printed on the ticket. Carnival Cruise Lines proves it sent the ticket by mail containing a facsimile of the clause. The court enforces the clause because the facsimile provided adequate notice of the terms.
Carnival Cruise Lines, Inc., a Florida corporation, sold passage tickets for a seven-day cruise aboard its ship the Tropicale to Eulala and Russel Shute, who resided in Washington. The Shutes purchased the tickets through a travel agent in Arlington, Washington. The agent forwarded the payment to Carnival's headquarters in Miami, Florida. Carnival then prepared the tickets and mailed them to the Shutes in Washington. The face of each ticket directed passengers to read the terms and conditions on the last pages. Contract page 1 stated that acceptance of the ticket constituted agreement to all terms and conditions. This included a provision that all disputes arising under or in connection with the contract would be litigated, if at all, in a court located in the State of Florida to the exclusion of the courts of any other state or country. The Shutes boarded the Tropicale in Los Angeles, California. The ship sailed to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and then returned to Los Angeles. While the vessel was in international waters off the Mexican coast, Eulala Shute slipped on a deck mat during a guided tour of the ship's galley and was injured. The Shutes filed a negligence suit against Carnival in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington. Carnival moved for summary judgment. It contended that the forum-selection clause required the suit to be brought in Florida or, alternatively, that the district court lacked personal jurisdiction because Carnival's contacts with Washington were insubstantial. The district court granted the motion on personal jurisdiction grounds. The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed. It first concluded that Carnival's solicitation of business in Washington established sufficient contacts for personal jurisdiction. It then held that the forum-selection clause was unenforceable because it was not freely bargained for and because the Shutes were physically and financially incapable of litigating in Florida. The Supreme Court granted certiorari.
View caseA corporation may use a facsimile of its seal by any method that reproduces the original, including impressing, affixing, or stamping. The reproduction satisfies the statutory grant of power to have and use a corporate seal.
Supporting sources
Yes. When a business record is reproduced by any accurate process that creates a durable medium, the reproduction and any enlargement or facsimile of it are admissible as the original itself would be.
Supporting sources
Yes. Delivery of notice may be accomplished by any means reasonably calculated to afford actual notice, including electronic facsimile, provided the mortgage documents do not require a different method.
Supporting sources
…of duties are allotted to a particular person.” 1 N. Webster, American Dictionary of the English Language (1828) (def. 2) (1995 facsimile ed.). It is also consistent with the early practice of Congress, which in 1792 authorized the Postmaster General to appoint “an assistant, and deputy postmasters, at all places where such…