Primary purpose

Definition

CAN-SPAM Act

Under FTC regulations promulgated pursuant to the CAN-SPAM Act, regarding the determination of whether an e-mail message has "commercial" promotion as its primary purpose:

• The primary purpose of an e-mail message is deemed commercial if it contains only the commercial advertisement or promotion of a commercial product or service ("commercial content").
• The primary purpose of an e-mail message is deemed commercial if it contains both commercial content and “transactional or relationship” content if either of the following occurs:

— A recipient reasonably interpreting the subject line of the e-mail message would likely conclude that the message contains commercial content.

— The e-mail message’s “transactional or relationship” content does not appear in whole or substantial part at the beginning of the body of the message.

• The primary purpose of an e-mail message is deemed commercial if it contains both commercial content as well as content that is not transactional or relationship content if a [[recipient] reasonably interpreting either:

— The subject line of the e-mail message would likely conclude that the message contains commercial content.

— The body of the message would likely conclude that the primary purpose of the message is commercial.

• The primary purpose of an e-mail message is deemed transactional or relationship ("noncommercial") if it contains only “transactional or relationship” content.