ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 7, 1996 TAG: 9602070060
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ARLINGTON
SOURCE: ANNE GEARAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
RAM AVRAHAMI SAYS it's unfair for one company to sell his name to others, and then subject him to unwelcome mail.
Ram Avrahami believes his name is worth something - and if magazines, record clubs and credit card solicitors can buy and sell it, he ought to get a share of the profits.
Avrahami, a 33-year-old Wharton business school graduate, claims U.S. News & World Report had no right to sell his name and address to another company without his permission.
``It is unfair to me. Actually, it is unfair to me twice,'' Avrahami said Tuesday outside the suburban courthouse where he is suing the magazine. ``The magazine sells my name without asking me, and then I receive the junk mail for which I really have no use.''
Representatives of the direct-marketing industry say the suit is unfounded, but they fear devastating consequences if Avrahami prevails.
``Look at it this way: If I want to send you something and have to call you or write you to make sure it's OK to send you this material, do you know what it's going to do to the direct marketing industry?'' said Ed Burnett, a direct mail consultant in New Jersey. ``It's going to kill it, that's what it's going to do.''
Since filing the suit last summer, Avrahami has received national media attention and emerged as an unlikely champion of the American everyman.
Avrahami's electronic mailbox overflows with the complaints of fellow sufferers, and his lawyer has gotten so many calls he is considering a class-action case against mailers.
``The fact that we cannot escape commercial intrusion, even in the sanctuary of our own homes, is inherently troubling,'' Avrahami wrote in an op-ed piece this week in The Los Angeles Times. ``Is this the price of modern society, or is this a symptom of disrespect for our wishes?''
The suit is not the first to challenge direct-mail marketing, but it apparently is the first to target the seller of a mailing list rather than the buyer.
Challenges to the direct-mail industry on the premise that receiving uninvited mail violates a person's privacy rights failed.
On Tuesday, a judge unexpectedly threw out Avrahami's case on technical grounds and instructed him to refile his suit in a higher court. Avrahami said he will do that.
General District Judge Karen A. Henenberg said her court, which is Virginia's equivalent of a small-claims court, lacks jurisdiction.
``Eventually, the magazine will have to answer the simple question of why they used my name without permission. I look forward very much to the day that question will be answered,'' Avrahami said.
He sought $1,100 - the approximately 8 cents U.S. News got for his name, and the rest for aggravation. He has said his legal bills have exceeded the sum he seeks.
Avrahami's suit contends that the sale violated his property rights, and cites a Virginia law intended primarily to protect public figures' names from being used for commercial purposes without their permission.
U.S. News and the direct marketing industry claim Avrahami's name is not an individual commodity he can protect using that law.
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Ram Avrahami's lawsuit against U.S. News & Worldby CNBReport was unexpectedly thrown out on technical reasons Tuesday. He
plans to refile in a higher court. color.