ASCAP Wants To Be Paid When Your Phone Rings

gerddie notes a piece up on the EFF site outlining the fairly outlandish legal theories ASCAP is trying out in their court fight with AT&T. "ASCAP (the same folks who went after Girl Scouts for singing around a campfire) appears to believe that every time your musical ringtone rings in public, you're violating copyright law by 'publicly performing' it without a license. At least that's the import of a brief (PDF, 2.5 MB) it filed in ASCAP's court battle with mobile phone giant AT&T."

Comments

I recommend they come ask me in person.

[Maxo-Texas]

I look forward to breaking my wrist or knuckles.

Then I'll give them the address of the local biker gang's hangout so they can go there and enforce this rule.

If it is for the dopes that pay for ring tones, well that won't matter anyway--- I roll my own from 30 second mp3 cuts.

Not My Phone

[damn_registrars]

My phone just rings. I know it sounds crazy, but some people (OK maybe just me) actually prefer their phones to ring like - well, phones. I don't want to hear the latest hit R&B jingle or other such shit. I want to know that my phone is ringing. And sometimes, when I feel wild, I'll change to a slightly different ring tone that sounds like a different phone.

If people who are stupid enough to pay for musical ringtones get sued, I say thats just fine with me. I never liked the music that most people play as ringtones anyways. If they start getting fined and sued maybe those people will think twice before turning their phones into random top40 samplers.