Posted on 10/16/2009 2:13:29 PM PDT by a fool in paradise
A U.S. federal judge has rejected a music royalty collection agency's contention that a mobile operator is liable to pay public performance royalties when a ringtone is played.
The suit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York by The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) against Verizon Wireless. ASCAP filed a similar suit against AT&T.
ASCAP's suit marks another attempt by the music industry to secure new revenue in light of the proliferation of digital music. ASCAP argued that Verizon "was directly and secondarily liable for public performances of music works."
In her opinion, Judge Denise Cote rejected ASCAP's argument that Verizon is directly liable due to the fact that it controls the technical processes that cause a person's phone to ring, and thus, a ringtone. The ring doesn't quality as a public performance under the Copyright Act, she wrote.
"Despite the accusation that Verizon enjoys revenue from publicly played ringtones, Verizon makes no revenue from the playing of ringtones, in public or elsewhere," Cote wrote. "It makes revenue from selling ringtones, and it already pays a mechanical licensing fee in connection with those sales."
Under the Copyright Act, it is also legal to play music within a "normal circle of a family and its social acquaintances" without any expectation of making money, which exempts people of the need to obtain a performance license, Cote wrote. It also relieves Verizon from being secondarily liable, she wrote...
(Excerpt) Read more at pcworld.com ...
Ring Ping
Isn't this like trying to hold Dell responsible because someone downloads pirated music on their computer?
can you hear me now...ka-ching
I download songs off limewire and cut out key parts and use them as individual ring tones.
Paying for a ringtone is beyond my comprehension.
>>Isn’t this like trying to hold Dell responsible because someone downloads pirated music on their computer?<<
Why, yes. Yes it is.
When I get on those “illegal download” threads I say, quite seriously, that if they could figure out a practical way to do it they would charge you a royalty fee for singin a song in the shower or walking down the road. Or whistling it while shopping for groceries.
Can I just say right cheer, that the record companies that have pumped out swill non-stop for the last twenty plus years to our children, won’t be getting a teardrop from our household.
If the whole industry caved in on itself, what came from the ashes couldn’t be any worse.
This gangsta rap, and other just disgusting images and examples for our kids to emulate, have seriously wounded a whole generation, whether they know it or not.
The RIAA is good about seeing the more moneys are shaken down from more areas but they are lousy when it comes to seeing that the money collected actually goes to the songwriter or musician.
Labels like Atlantic were notorious for owning their performers money collected on hits.
I don’t have the slightest idea how anybody could ever hold a bad opinion of record companies.
Certainly gives new meaning to the phrase “pay to play”.
I have NEVER understood why people will pay $2.99 to download a ringtone. Most people I know have at least 5. My phone still has the default ringtone it came with.
The difference between rich people and poor people is that rich people know you spend your money a dollar at a time...or $2.99 at a time.
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