You’re Not Infringing Copyright When Your Ringtone Goes Off
Funny thing about ringtones: A royalty’s paid every time one’s downloaded, but the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers wanted royalties paid every time one is played, claiming that it’s a public performance. A federal judge says nope.
Interestingly, some ringtone services actually did pay performance royalties at one point. US District Court Judge Denise Cote ruled against the ASCAP, saying that “when a ringtone plays on a cellular telephone, even when that occurs in public, the user is exempt from copyright liability, and [the cellular carrier] is not liable either secondarily or directly”.
I’m sure the music industry will find some other reason to sue somebody else next week, don’t worry. [EFF via Ars]
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Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
It’s fricken free advertising for them ffs.
Oh Darn. I was so hoping that the judge would award a royalty for everytime a phone rings. I was going to laugh myself silly while all the authors all rang each other as much as possible. Because only they would have the ringtones that attracted royaties. The rest would have long gone back to the old ring ring ones. In my opinion most of us are sick of all this greed that constantly gouges money from our pockets, there isn’t much change left anyway. Maybe someone should go get a real job, and I include the lawyer who supported the idea and took it to court in the hope for a massive monetry fee, just a sign of more greed from that quarter.