In a rather strange royalty case (at least in my opinion), the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) sued some cell phone carriers in the US over the public performance of ringtones. Their argument went like this: When a cell phone with Lil Wayne’s “Way of Life” ringtone rings in public, it constitutes a public performance of the song and therefore the artists (and the record companies) deserve to be compensated for the work. Yes, you read that right: they’re trying to claim that every time your phone rings in public your cell phone company should be paying few pennies in royalties.
There are a couple of problems with this argument: 1) Cell phone companies can’t distinguish between when a phone rings in public and when it rings in private (or when the ringer is turned off) 2) Ringing phones can only be heard by a small group of people (it’s hardly equivalent to a public concert). Based on these arguments (and some other previous cases), the judge ruled that ringtones were not public performances and, therefore, ASCAP does not deserve extra compensation.
Read the full story from Ars Technica.
