EFax (fax service)

EFax is a service of j2 Global Communications that allows users to receive and send fax documents in digital format (e.g., in one's email) rather than at a traditional paper fax machine.

History

eFax began as a service of JetFax, Inc., which in the 80s and 90s manufactured and sold JetFax fax machines. In early 1999, JetFax changed its name to eFax.com, Inc. and began to offer the eFax electronic fax service. During the dotcom boom, their STOCK shot up but fell during the bust and they ran out of funds. eFax.com was acquired by rival JFAX.COM, which had offered a similar electronic fax service, in late 2000. Upon the purchase, the company changed its name to j2 Global Communications. It has been estimated 1 that the company as a whole has a few hundred thousand paying customers and several million who use its free advertising-supported services.

Trademark claim

The term "E-FAX" is the subject of a 1999 trademark registration application in the USA by E-Fax Communications inc. 2; this has not yet been granted, but the company says is it actively pursuing others who use the term 3. However, the Unix/Linux program called "efax" has been produced since 1993 4, and the term is also widely used to refer to computer-based faxing in general; see examples at 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15. Some reports of judgements made on this issue, which found that "e-fax" is a descriptive term, can be found at 16 17.

Notorious Customer Service

Many customers feel that eFax makes it intentionally difficult to cancel accounts. There is no option to do it online, customers must use the activeX based "livechat" feature. Often customers are billed an additional month of service even after cancelling. See http://www99.epinions.com/bsrv-Office_Services-Online_Fax-All-eFax/display_~reviews

See also

• efax (disambiguation)
• Public fax service
• j2 Global Communications

External links

• eFax homepage
• Analysis of J2 - includes commentary on eFax service