Slashdot Mirror
Copyright Claimed on Telephone Tones
awful writes: "Two composers in Australia have copyrighted over 100,000,000,000 phone tone dialing sequences. They state in the article that they are lampooning copyright laws that protect big business rather than artists. Their website has more info and explains how they did it. You can check your number and make sure it hasn't been copyrighted by these guys. They have already recieved one offer of money - from a guy who wanted to purchase the copyright to his number so he could stop direct marketing firms from calling him." Somehow I don't think the inventors of DTMF envisioned this. Update: 10/04 14:11 GMT by M : There's a US mirror available.
Jenny, Jenny who can I turn to
You give me something I can hold on to
I know you'll think I'm like the others before
Who saw your name and number on the wall
Jenny I've got your number
I need to make you mine
Jenny don't change your number
8 6 7-5 3 0 9
Well, now I'll have to get a rotary cell phone so I can call home without paying royalties!
Ooo!Ooo! I know what these guys can do for us - sue Hillary Rosen or any RIAA member when they have to call each other in order to make thier little cabal plans. Could you imagine the scowl on her *cough*lovely*cough* face?
Soko
"Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm." - Anonymous
I forsee the following dialouge:
:-)
Me: hello?
Tele-solicitor: Hello would you like to buy-
Me: You have just infringed on national copyright hangup now or I will seize all your assets!
Tele-solicitor: *click*
Ah finally a good use for copyright
So, who wants to help me encode all these 100,000,000,000 possible ringtones and put them on Morpheus?
STEP 1: Place hand 3 inches above head and 3 inches in front of head.
STEP 2: Briskly move hand from previous position to 3 inches above head and 6 inches behind head.
Hammer of Truth
I just copyrighted all the possible combinations of pulse dialing tones too... ahhahahahhah... you all owe me 0.05 cents per use... I'm rich!! I'm rich!!! ahaahhahahha
.05c * (500 Hz) = 25 cents per second. Not too bad if you ask me.
Just copyright all pulses, period. That way, for example, if someone causes a 500 Hz tone to be emitted, you'd be owed
I pledge allegiance to the flag...
of the Corporate States of America...
People don't seem to have noticed that finicky little disclaimer under the score of their telephone number:
e t.html#c2)
"Notation is an approximation only of the real pitch."
(See: http://www.magnus-opus.com/number_check.html)
The Equitempered Scale (or Equal Tempered Scale, depending on who you talk to) has pretty much been the standard for musical notes for the last 200 years, although the standard for A4 was only ratified as 440Hz in 1939.
The frequencies used for DTMF tones don't exactly match notes on the Equitempered Scale. I have tabulated the differences here:
Matching against the Equitempered scale:
(Based on http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/music/
DTMF_tone Closest_Note %-error
697Hz F5, 698.46Hz +0.2095%
770Hz G5, 783.99Hz +1.8169%
852Hz G5#, 830.61Hz -2.5106%
941Hz A5#, 932.33Hz -0.9214%
1209Hz D6, 1174.6Hz -2.8453%
1336Hz E6, 1318.5Hz -1.3099%
1477Hz F6#, 1480.0Hz +0.2031%
1633Hz G6#, 1661.2Hz +1.7269%
As you can see, there are some considerable differences from a "purist" point of view.
This begs the question: Have the Magnus-Opus musicians actually copyrighted DTMF tone sequences, or just an approximation of them?
Another question worth asking: Even if the copyright holds-up, is it the end-users who are liable for infringement, or the Telco's who are on-selling the numbers as their own property?
--------
Eletus99
Map makers used to put in little false details here and there to make sure their maps weren't being copied. A street here or there that didn't exist in real life.
I always thought that was fiendishly clever.
I wonder if they still do it - I've always suspected that Montana doesn't really exist...
Cheers,
Jim in Tokyo
-- My Weblog.
I award this article the Worst Slashdot Lawyers Ever award. Not a single legally valid opinion is ranked above 3. Several utterly uninformed opinions are ranked at 4 or 5. Half the replies miss the point. Absolutely amazingly horrible. A record high noise/signal ratio. Wow.
Please for Gnu's sake don't whip off a letter to your Congresscritter based on this article; most posters have already looked stupid enough.
(Oh, in case you're wondering, the subject of this article is a funny-chortle, but no more. It has all the legal force of a Taliban edict in this country.)