One Way You’re Not Going to Infringe Copyright October 15, 2009
The EFF is reporting that a court has ruled that neither cellphone users, nor the carriers, are liable for copyright infringement when the phone rings in public.
ASCAP argued that playing the ringtone in public constituted a “public performance” under the copyright act. The judge found that the performance was exempt from having to pay royalties because the “performance” wasn’t for commercial gain.
In an interesting twist for the ASCAP/BMI v. Apple dispute, the judge in this case also found that transmitting the ringtone to one person does not constitute a public performance. It still would constitute a reproduction, though. Because the 30 second song clips on iTunes are only transmitted to one person at a time, they would also not count as public performances under this interpretation.
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