District court rules in favor of VZW on ringtones : Carrier does not have to pay ‘public performance’ fees

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York handed a significant victory to Verizon Wireless against the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) by holding that neither the download of a ringtone nor the playing of that ringtone when the phone rings in public requires wireless carriers to obtain public performance licenses. In re Application of Cellco P’ship d/b/a Verizon Wireless (09-7074).
Wiley Rein represents Verizon Wireless in this copyright proceeding before the ASCAP rate court to set license fees for the public performance of musical works in mobile video, ringback tones, and the previews for ringtones and full track music downloads.
The Wiley Rein team includes partners Bruce G. Joseph, Andrew G. McBride, Michael L. Sturm, and Karyn K. Ablin, and associates Matthew J. Astle, Claire J. Evans, and Brett A. Shumate.