[RootbeaR]

"Ah, those collection societies just never learn, do they? We've discussed in the past how ASCAP once threatened the Girl Scouts for singing songs around the campfire, but in the past few years it's been ASCAP's counterpart in the UK that's been in the news the most for things like threatening small business owners after calling them on the phone and saying they hear music in the background or threatening a stable owner for playing the radio to her horses. I guess ASCAP was feeling a bit left out. Its latest move is to claim that legally purchased ringtones on mobiles phones, playing in public places, represents a public performance for which it is owed royalties. Songwriters and music publishers already are paid royalties on ringtone purchases, but ASCAP is claiming that buying the file is entirely different than "the performance" (i.e., the phone ringing)."
http://techdirt.com/articles/20090620/1836345299.shtml

[RootbeaR]

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), however, asserts that copyright law exempts performances made "without any purpose of direct or indirect commercial advantage," which would include a ringtone heard in a restaurant.