Mobile ringtones sound Web alert
By Lia Timson

British intellectual copyright lawyer Clare Griffiths said: "Copyright in the music will be infringed by taking a 'substantial part' of a musical work. The most recognisable melody of a song, even if it is only 10 seconds out of three minutes, could be substantial copying."

She added: "The moral rights of a songwriter may also be infringed through the derogatory treatment of their work -- having a beautiful melody reduced to a ringtone could be seen as damaging to the integrity of the music."

She also warned that not only the companies offering the music but the downloaders themselves may be legally liable as they were creating a copy on their phones.

"Also, is the song being broadcast or performed when the phone rings, especially in a public place, further infringing the rights of the copyright owner?"

Typical charges for a download are $1.50 to $3.50 (£1 - £2.50) and yet the royalty payments required are small by comparison -- five percent, typically 7.5 cents (5p).

"I don't think the amount is a problem for them," said Earle. "But with the global reach of the Internet, copyright owners can no longer control the distribution."

He pointed to e-books being a parallel area with the latest Harry Potter book being available in its entirety on the web on the same day it was published.

He said that the industry was trying to tackle the issue by trying to protect intellectual property at the beginning of the cycle with watermarking and digital rights monitoring.

Edward P. Murphy, CEO of the U.S.-based National Music Publishers' Association, said the organisation had already received many enquiries from companies looking to get involved in the business.

He said the association was keen that the legal situation be understood before handsets have the ability to play full sound.

"The capabilities of these hand-held devices are going to change markedly within the next 24 months. A hand-held device will have the ability to play music.

"We are very excited and happy about this, but we have to think about the next step. We want to get the legal position sorted out before this happens."

He said issues of territory, tracking and auditing were all crucial. "The problem we are hearing and seeing is that most of the organisations we have met are not clear on their own business models, which makes things more difficult," he said.

Rhys Evans, a spokesman for the UK's Mechanical Copyright Protection Society, confirmed that the problem was serious with a substantial number of unlicensed sites and unfettered access to the Internet.

"We can only license web sites which fall within our British jurisdiction. The problem is that anyone has a free access over the Internet to an array of European and international sites."