Are Ringtones a Public Performance?

A finding that consumers infringe the public performance right each time their phones ring in public threatens to stigmatize millions of consumers as lawbreakers.

- Digital rights organizations Electronic Frontier Foundation, Center for Democracy & Technology and Public Knowledge

In Wendy Davis, "ASCAP Strikes Sour Chord With Consumer Advocates," Online Media Daily, July 6, 2009


The Electronic Frontier Foundation, Center for Democracy & Technology and Public Knowledge have together filed papers asking a Federal district court in New York City to rule against the American Society of Composers and Publishers (ASCAP). ASCAP was founded in 1914 to collect money--"licensing fees"--for its members whose copyrighted musical compositions are performed in public, including on radio and in theaters. In recent years, ASCAP has taken the initiative to collect licensing fees in digital media such as the internet. Now the organization is arguing that it is entitled to licensing fees for ringtones because, it says, the playing of ringtones is a "public performance." It wants AT&T to pay the fee for the ringtones it sells to its customers.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, Center for Democracy & Technology and Public Knowledge reject ASCAP's argument about the public nature of a mobile phone's ring, comparing it to a person playing a CD in a car with the window down. The group notes too, that if the court forces AT&T to pay, the charges will be extended to consumers.