Maine § 603. - Electronic notice

§ 603.. Electronic notice

1.  Electronic posting of legal notices.  A legal notice appearing in a newspaper pursuant to section 601 must be placed on any publicly accessible website that the newspaper maintains in the following manner:

A. The legal notice must be placed on the newspaper's publicly accessible website no later than the same day that it appears in the newspaper;   [PL 2013, c. 368, Pt. YYYY, §2 (NEW); PL 2013, c. 368, Pt. YYYY, §5 (AFF).]

B. A link to legal notices must be provided on the home page of the newspaper's publicly accessible website;   [PL 2013, c. 368, Pt. YYYY, §2 (NEW); PL 2013, c. 368, Pt. YYYY, §5 (AFF).]

C. Legal notices appearing on the newspaper's publicly accessible website must be presented in a clear and conspicuous manner and must be of sufficient size to be clearly readable;   [PL 2013, c. 368, Pt. YYYY, §2 (NEW); PL 2013, c. 368, Pt. YYYY, §5 (AFF).]

D. Legal notices must be the dominant subject matter of the page on the newspaper's publicly accessible website on which they are placed; and   [PL 2013, c. 368, Pt. YYYY, §2 (NEW); PL 2013, c. 368, Pt. YYYY, §5 (AFF).]

E. Beginning on July 1, 2014, the newspaper's publicly accessible website must have a search function allowing readers to search legal notices that appear on the website.   [PL 2013, c. 368, Pt. YYYY, §2 (NEW); PL 2013, c. 368, Pt. YYYY, §5 (AFF).]

A newspaper may not charge an additional fee for placing a legal notice on the newspaper's publicly accessible website or for submitting a legal notice to the electronic repository established pursuant to subsection 2.  

2.  Statewide repository for legal notices.  Beginning July 1, 2014, a statewide association representing newspapers shall establish and maintain, at its own expense, a publicly accessible electronic repository for any legal notice appearing on a publicly accessible newspaper website in accordance with subsection 1. A newspaper publishing legal notices in accordance with section 601 shall submit the legal notice to the repository.

Beginning July 1, 2014, a newspaper that publishes legal notices in accordance with section 601 shall provide a link to the statewide repository for e-mail notification of any new legal notices added to any publicly accessible website that the newspaper maintains. E-mail notifications must be sent on the same day that the new legal notice appears on the newspaper's publicly accessible website. A newspaper must prominently display information regarding the ability to receive e-mail notifications from the repository and the process for requesting such notifications on the page of the newspaper's publicly accessible website where legal notices appear. The statewide association representing newspapers that establishes and maintains the publicly accessible electronic repository is responsible for providing e-mail notification of legal notices upon request and at no charge.