Judge: Mobile Phone Ringtones are Not Concerts

wired.com

18 points·phsr··7 comments

I ran a ringtone startup back in 2000 - 2004. ASCAP threatened us more than once. They claimed that someone who purchased a ringtone from us would then go ahead and make a public performance every time their phone rang, and thus, we were obliged to pay up performance licensing fees. I can remember looking the 'payment schedules' over in my freshman dorm room shaking my head in disbelief (We were already paying other rights agencies at the time [edit - including ASCAP]). The whole thing was absurd. Good to see a court has finally slapped some sense into them.

The advice from our lawyers was to just pay up unless we had the money to fight them in the 'Rate Court' http://www1.nysd.uscourts.gov Glad someone finally did.

I can't believe someone actually wasted their money, and tax payer money, to take this to court. The lawyers must be laughing all the way to the bank.

They won with musical instrument shops that do have to pay a public performance license in case a customer plays a known tune while testing a new instrument

I'm sorry but that's fucking retarded.

Some more examples:

John Collins, 57, who runs a software company from a room at his home in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, received letters saying he needed a licence for the classical CDs he played while working. "If my wife Susan brings me a cup of tea and hears the music then I might be liable," he said.

Even dogs and cats do not always escape targeting. Follybridge cattery near Peterborough and Stokenchurch dog rescue centre in Buckinghamshire, which play Terry Wogan’s Radio 2 show to their "guests", were both told they would need a licence in case any workers heard the music.

My common sense is tingling.

Until I read this, I didn't actually believe in Einstein's quote of human stupidity being infinite.

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