In this paper, we consider the Cauchy problem for a weakly coupled system of semilinear damped wave equations. We prove the global existence of solutions for small data in the supercritical case for any space dimension. We also give estimates of the weighted energy of solutions and in a special case, we prove an almost optimal estimate. Moreover, in the subcritical case, we give an almost optimal estimate of the lifespan from both above and below. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.