Washington - The Digital Media Association (DiMA), a trade group of webcasters whose members include AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo and Apple's iTunes Store, has filed a "friend of the court" brief opposing a claim by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) that digital music downloads should be considered "public performances," and therefore subject to an additional performance license and royalty.

ASCAP initiated a royalty rate proceeding in the fall of 2005, asking a federal court to set royalty rates for "performances" of digital music by AOL, Yahoo and RealNetworks.

"ASCAP's assertion in federal court that digital distributions of music and video are also public performances confounds legal, business and technological reality," said DiMA executive director Jonathan Potter.

"For a decade ASCAP and BMI have successfully preyed on less-confident or underfinanced companies that were willing to pay double-dip royalties. Now, however, we are confident that a judge will finally end this travesty."

Co-signing DiMA's brief were groups including the Consumer Electronics Association and National Association of Recording Merchandisers.

ASCAP's claim has also drawn opposition briefs from the Recording Industry Association of America and Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association.

The trial is set to begin on May 21 in New York, but the judge has said he will rule before trial on motions containing DiMA's arguments.

Related Links:
http://www.digmedia.org/content/release.cfm?id=7216&content=pr

http://www.ascap.com