Federal Trade Commission v. Inc21.com Corp.

MEMORANDUM

Defendants Inc21.com Corporation, Jumpage Solutions, Inc., GST U.S.A., Inc., Roy Yu Lin and John Yu Lin appeal the judgment of the district court in this civil enforcement action by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) arising from the defendants’ practice of charging consumers through local phone bills for online services they never agreed to purchase. On cross motions for summary judgment, the district court concluded that the defendants engaged in deceptive and unfair billing practices in violation of § 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act), 15 U.S.C. § 45 , and the Telemarketing Sales Rule, 16 C.F.R. part 310. The district court imposed remedies under § 13(b) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. § 53 (b), including ordering the defendants to pay restitution to injured consumers in the amount of $38 million. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

1. We reject the FTC’s argument that the defendants failed to timely appeal from the summary judgment order and the order on pending motions. The FTC filed a timely motion to amend the judgment. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 59(e). That motion tolled the time for filing a notice of appeal until entry of an order…