ASCAP: ‘You’re all pirates, but don’t fret’
p2pnet news view Music:- On Monday, p2pnet quoted the EFF’s Fred von Lohmann (right) as saying ASCAP, the “same folks who went after Girl Scouts for singing around a campfire, appears to believe every time your ringtone rings in public, “you’re violating copyright law by ‘publicly performing’ it without a license.”
“This will doubtless come as a shock to the millions of Americans who have legitimately purchased musical ringtones, contributing millions to the music industry’s bottom line,” he said in Deep Links.
Now, ASCAP has, “fired up its spin control machinery and issued a statement to Billboard, including this talking point, doubtless meant to be reassuring,” he says.
“To be completely clear, ASCAP’s approach has always been to license these businesses – not to charge listeners/end-users,” it said.
But, “This is an archetypal example of copyright doublespeak,” says von Lohmann in a new Deep Links post, going on »»»
What ASCAP should be saying is: “It’s not infringing when your ringtone goes off in public.” That’s because the Copyright Act specifically provides in Section 110(4) that public performances “without any purpose of direct or indirect commercial advantage” are “not infringements of copyright.”
Instead, ASCAP’s statement essentially amounts to “you’re all pirates, but don’t fret, we’d never sue you for it, just every company that provides you with services.” We’ve seen similar statements from others in the copyright industries: the RIAA, for example, still has never admitted that ripping a CD you own for use on your own iPod is a noninfringing fair use.
nstead, they say “we have no objection to that” or “we’d never sue you for that.” Statements like this provide no certainty to consumers, nor to the innovators who are trying to build businesses (whether delivering VCRs, ringtones or iPods) helping consumers enjoy copyrighted works in every conceivable way that does not infringe the limited rights granted to copyright owners.
So, suggests von Lohmann, “reporters, next time you get this copyright doublespeak from an ASCAP representative, remember to ask the next question: “If I have a musical ringtone, and it rings in a public place, are you saying that I’ve infringed the copyrights of your members’?”
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi
p2pnet – ASCAP, ringtones, and $$$$$, June 22, 2009
Deep Links – ASCAP Wants To Be Paid When Your Phone Rings, June 19, 2009
Deep Links – ASCAP and Copyright Doublespeak, June 23, 2009
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June 24th, 2009 at 9:31 am
The reason why this bull@#$% doesn’t get shot down immediately is that ASCAP, the RIAA, and all of the other Cartel Clones takes everybody on a wild ride through the spaces between the law. In arguments like this one, they’re trying to say that the “public performances” offered by the ringtones are providing indirect financial gain to the carriers (even though it’s the users who purchase and use the songs). Sadly, this gives them some wiggle-room to argue and these kinds of “interpretations” of the law have not yet been solidly defeated in court. Even when they have (remember “making available”?) these eels repackage it and keep on spinning. These games aren’t going to stop until we write new laws that clearly and explicitly give rights to end users. Something like, “when a song is purchased, the purchaser gains any and all rights provided there is no significant financial gain.”