Court Ruling Dials Up Victory for Ringtones

As the stodgy and seemingly inflexible music industry continues to tighten its grip on a dying paradigm, the rest of the world already has moved on. First (at least in the digital music world) there was Napster, which ultimately was shut down, but the 21st century Zeitgeist fully embraced the concept of peer-to-peer file-sharing and others quickly took its place.

Then came the RIAA's efforts to lock up digital downloads with digital rights management (DRM) limitations, often dictating how music could be shared (or not shared), which was met with resistance from fans. For the most part, DRM didn't last either.

The next effort to contain the digital music revolution, this time championed by ASCAP, was to claim that every time a musician's ring tone -- for example, the first few bars of "Baby Got Back" -- goes off in public, it's legally a "performance" and thus subject to royalties.

Well, a U.S. District Court in New York begged to differ (PDF). Writing on behalf of the court, U.S. District Judge Denise Cote found in favor of mobile carrier Verizon, which was sued by ASCAP for not paying the royalties the organization believed its member musicians so deserved.

"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 judge writes in her opinion. Essentially, and to spare our readers unnecessary legalese, the ruling was based on the Copyright Act's exemption for "public performances" (or, in this case, public ringing) without the expectation of making a buck.

Digital rights activist organization Electronic Frontier Foundation also issued a press statement about the ruling.

It's an open and shut case when you think about it: Who in their right mind would enjoy someone else's ringtone so much they'd actually be willing to pay them to hear it? Right, no one.

Personally, I really dislike pop music ring tones. But I dislike greedy copyright lawyers even more, so this is a victory for us all (unless you're a sympathetic ASCAP member). Keep on rocking those handsets -- just not right next to me, please.

Photo courtesy of Serenity, via Wikimedia Commons