Ringtones &Compulsory Licenses

The Copyright Office has decided that ringtones are digital phonorecord deliveries and are thus subject to statutory licensing under 17 U.S.C. § 115, as long as they are "merely excerpts of a preexisting sound recording". Ringtones containing additional material may be considered derivative works, which are outside the scope of 17 U.S.C. § 115.

The Copyright Office also decided that "a ringtone is made and distributed for private use even though some consumers may purchase them for the purpose of identifying themselves in public". It is an important point, as section 115 allows compulsory license only if the primary purpose of the person obtaining the license is to distribute them to the public for private use. Any person who had to listen to a stranger's intimate cell phone conversation, while sitting next to him on a park bench, knows that many consider talking on cell phones as being part of their private sphere. Copyright law and Privacy law differ here: we have no expectation of privacy in cell phones conversations made in public, yet our ringtones are private performances...