Fax Site using the Courier satellite. Radio fax is still in limited use today for transmitting weather charts and information to ships at sea. Also, it is also widely used within the medical field to transmit confidential patient information. In 1964, Xerox Corporation introduced (and patented) what many consider to be the first commercialized version of the modern fax machine, under the name (LDX) or Long Distance Xerography. This model was superseded two years later with a unit that would truly set the standard for fax machines for years to come. Up until this point facsimile machines were very expensive and
Junk Fax Prevention Act of 2005 of nuisance telemarketing tactics, it included provisions making it illegal for any person to send an unsolicited advertisement to a fax machine. The law further authorized the recipient of a fax sent in violation of the statute (or a regulation promulgated under the statute) to sue the sender in state court to enjoin further violation, recover for actual monetary losses from such a violation, $500 in statutory damages for each violation (whichever is greater), or both. The law also allows the court, in its discretion, to treble these damages if it finds the defendant violated the statute "willfully" or "knowingly."