Ringtone Royalties ? What’s Next ???

I hope, like me, nothing surprises you anymore.  If not, you’ll be shocked to find out that when ringtones go off in public, the mobile phone melody constitutes a performance and violates copyright law — according to the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) anyway, which is suing AT&T over their “violation.”  An annoyance tax? yes, a performance tax?  Are you kidding me?  Even though operators and mobile content providers already pay songwriters and publishers a licensing fee for each ringtone download, ASCAP contends it is owed additional royalties for “public performances”, for instance when handsets ring in a restaurant.  It sounds like a joke but it’s not.  ASCAP filed a civil action suit in the U.S. District Court of the southern district of New York to prove it’s not a joke…

Fred von Lohmann, senior staff attorney for Electronic Frontier Foundation says “Fortunately, ASCAP is wrong.”  “Even if the incidental mobile phone playback of a short snippet in a public place were viewed as a ‘public performance’ (something no court has ever held) the Copyright Act has a specific exception, 17 U.S.C. 110(4) [2], that covers performances made ‘without any purpose of direct or indirect commercial advantage’.  That should take care of ringtones going off in the restaurant.”  Von Lohmann also points out that if ASCAP wins its case, you better listen to your car radio with the windows down…

Techie website Techdirt is not surprised by this court suit.  “It’s simply the way industry groups (even those representing the songwriters, rather than the labels) have also worked.  It’s always about ‘extending rights’, that’s why copyright was broken down eventually into different types of rights — including distribution rights and performance rights, because the ‘old’ rights didn’t fit the new technologies.  It’s a particularly obnoxious trick to claim that, because a single file can be used in multiple ways (for both distribution and performance) it is now subject to both types of royalties”.  It’s called greed and in this particular case greed is spelled A-S-C-A-P…    

10 Timeline Memories: 

1. 1664] Are you from Jersey?: New Jersey, named after the Isle of Jersey, is founded. Get ready for the stench as soon as you approach Secaucus…
2. 1922] And they called it…the NFL: The American Professional Football Association has the good sense to change its name to the National Football League. Interesting footnote: Curly Lambeau paid $250 for the Green Bay Packers, founded by his employer, the Indian Packing Company. Today the entire community of Green Bay owns the team…
3. 1948] That wall won’t be for handball: Communists forces cut off all land and water routes between West and East Berlin. The U.S. organizes a massive airlift known as “The Berlin Airlift“…
4. 1949] Hoppy’s happy: “Hopalong Cassidy“ becomes the 1st network (NBC) western on TV. The series will run 2 seasons…
5. 1953] With this ring: John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier announce their engagement…
6. 1956] Hi-Ho Steverino: “The Steve Allen Show“ returns on NBC-TV for 5 years…
7. 1975] Tragedy at JFK: An Eastern Airlines Boeing 727 crashes while attempting to land during a thunderstorm at JFK, killing 113…
8. 1979] Diamond Dust: Rickey Henderson wastes no time in stealing his 1st base, doing it in his major league debut with Oakland…1992] Baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent permanently bans drug abuser Steve Howe from baseball…
9. 1987] “Happy Trails”: Jackie Gleason dies from colon and liver cancer at 71…2006] Patsy Ramsey, mother of JonBenet, dies from ovarian cancer at 49…
10. 1992] Gotcha: “Crazy Eddie” Antar is captured and arrested in Israel on U.S. fraud charges. Remember the commercial done by Jerry Carroll?…1993] An Arab terror group planning the bombing of the Holland and Lincoln Tunnels gets caught - all are arrested…







       






Music Memories:

• 1972] Released on this date: “I Am Woman“ - Helen Reddy…
• 1992] Graduated on this date: At 43, Billy Joel receives his diploma from Hicksville High School…

“Happy Birthday…happy birthday”: Minka Kelly (29), Peter Weller (62), Mick Fleetwood (62), former N.Y. Gov. George Pataki (64), Jeff Beck (65), Michelle Lee (67), Jack Carter (86) and “Happy Days” Al a.k.a. Al Molinaro (90)…

Timeline Countdown: 10 days until July 4th, 21 days until the MLB All-Star Game and 31 days until the first NFL training camp (Giants) opens…

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