[Harp-L] music industry news....gimme more money say the Music Companies

[icemanle@xxxxxxx]

WHEN YOUR CELLPHONE RINGS, YOU BREAK THE
LAW SAY RECORD COMPANIES






You are nuts says a federal judge who has
dismissed the music industry contention that when a cellphone's
ringtone plays, copyright infringement starts since others can hear
the song, essentially arguing that a mobile phone is a portable
concert hall.






That argument meant that millions of mobile
phone users were copyright breakers anytime anyone called them. The
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, known as ASCAP
was attempting to wring even more royalties from music lovers, who
already pay ringtone royalties when they buy ringtones. Additionally,
ASCAP collects royalty payments for public performances of songs from
venues as divergent as a summer camp and a stadium. While ASCAP's
much-ridiculed argument in the case was a legal long
shot, copyright chaos might have ensued had the
royalty-collecting group actually prevailed.






"The ruling is an important victory
for consumers, making it clear that playing music in public, when done
without any commercial purpose, does not infringe copyright,"
wrote Fred von Lohmann, a copyright attorney with the Electronic
Frontier Foundation. - www.wired.com






The mother of all "nuisance
lawsuits", surely. ASCAP was suing AT&T and Verizon in a New
York federal court. Music companies are unrepentant and
GREEDY.