Court: Ringtones Not a 'Public Performance'; No Extra Royalty

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 15, 2009 - 10:28am.

San Francisco - A federal court has ruled that a cell phone ringtone sounded in public does not constitute a "public performance" under copyright law, and therefore performing rights organizations like ASCAP are not entitled to additional royalty payments from ringtones. "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," the court said in its ruling.

Groups including the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Public Knowledge and the Center for Democracy & Technology had urged the court to reject ASCAP's argument in a friend of the court brief submitted in the case.

"The ruling is an important victory for consumers, making it clear that playing music in public, when done without any commercial purpose, does not infringe copyright," the EFF said in a statement.

The EFF noted that the court also rejected ASCAP's argument that a royalty payment-triggering public performance occurs when wireless network operators download ringtones to their customers' phones.

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/sjb9o (EFF statement)

http://www.ascap.com