Verizon Wireless, the nation's leading wireless carrier, Tuesday filed a lawsuit against a telemarketer for using an autodialer to illegally call its customers.

The suit, filed in the United States District Court, District of New Jersey in Trenton, NJ, alleges that Feature Films for Families Inc. made nearly 500,000 calls in 10 days to market an upcoming movie called "The Velveteen Rabbit." The calls were made on behalf of a Los Angeles-based company called Family 1 Films.

"I think the message is we want to protect our customers' privacy and go after illegal telemarketers with a vengeance," said Debbie Lewis, spokeswoman at Verizon Wireless, Basking Ridge, NJ.

The calls were made to Verizon Wireless customers and employees earlier this month from the number 917-210-4609.

Upon answering the calls to their mobile phones, Verizon Wireless customers heard either a prerecorded voice message or an individual reading a script promoting the expected release of the movie.

Per Verizon Wireless' lawsuit, many of these calls were made in rapid succession, indicating the use of an autodialer to place the calls.

For instance, nearly 11,000 calls with the same caller ID were made between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. on Feb. 13, averaging one call per 0.32 seconds.

A week prior, nearly 10,000 calls were made from the same caller ID between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Feb. 6, averaging one call per 0.36 seconds.

The Verizon Wireless case alleges violations of the Federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act that makes it illegal to use an autodialer to place calls to mobile phones. It is also a state fraud and violates privacy laws.

Verizon Wireless has filed a motion to seek a preliminary injunction to stop the defendants from making these calls.

The carrier filed first of many such suits in 2004, winning permanent injunctions against companies and people who have engaged in illegal telemarketing and SMS spamming to Verizon Wireless customers.

Verizon Wireless has also sued to stop individuals or companies who have tried to get information about the carrier's customers to sell to third parties.

The current action has a similar intent as previous legal efforts: ensure that customer privacy is not violated, that wireless laws are upheld and that legitimate mobile marketing does not suffer.

The risk of not acting promptly may have repercussions, Ms. Lewis said.

"What it may have an impact on is wireless customers being open to legitimate and legal mobile marketing efforts or campaigns," Ms. Lewis said.

Please click here to download a PDF copy of the Verizon Wireless lawsuit.