The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed a penalty of nearly $700,000 against a Brooklyn, NY company for marketing various models of wireless microphones without FCC authorization.
According to a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture issued by the FCC in early April, the company, Sound Around, began as early as 2011 to market noncompliant wireless microphone models that were apparently capable of operating in restricted frequency bands, as well as in the 700 MHz frequency band where they were no longer authorized to operate in the U.S.
But, despite receiving a Marketing Citation from the Bureau’s Spectrum Enforcement Division requiring the company to take immediate measures to ensure compliance with the Commission’s equipment marketing rules, Sound Around continued to sell various models of unauthorized wireless microphones. According to a Letter of Inquiry sent by the Commission to the company in 2017, as many as 82 models of unauthorized wireless microphones may have been marketed by the company.
In its Notice of Apparent Liability, the FCC found that Sound Around “apparently willfully and repeatedly” violated Commission rules regarding the marketing of the noncompliant wireless microphone models, proposing a penalty of $685,338.
Read the FCC’s Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture issued to Sound Around.
