Facing the Music?

We've all been annoyed (much more frequently than we've been entertained, if you ask me) when someone's cellphone trills with a custom ringtone. Now, lawyers are arguing about whether that sound is a public performance that should deliver more money to composers.

A federal judge in New York is deciding a case that pits the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers against AT&T and Verizon. ASCAP says the phone companies should pay royalties when ringtones go off. But the telephone companies insist they already pay royalties when phone customers buy the tones, so it's unfair to make them pay twice.

You might think a ringtone sound couldn't be more public – especially when it goes off during a concert or movie you are trying to enjoy. And ASCAP's lawyers say that common sense argument supports their claim. But a 2007 case found that a music download isn't a performance. So phone company lawyers argue that when cellphone owners buy a ringtone, they are downloading and not triggering a performance – after all, the owner of a phone doesn't control when the phone rings.

While a group supporting the phone companies raises the specter of lawsuits against cellphone users – shades of the recording industry's hapless attempt to sue individuals for illegal music downloads – ASCAP reportedly has said it doesn't plan to take this battle to cellphone owners.