Downloading of a Music File Not A Public Performance, District Court Declares in U.S. v. ASCAP

Holding:

In partially granting the motion for summary judgment of applicants AOL LLC, Yahoo! Inc., and RealNetworks, Inc., the district court held that the downloading of a music file is more accurately characterized as a method of reproducing that file, and should not be considered a public performance of the song embodied in that file, within the meaning of the US Copyright Law.

Detailed Summary:

ASCAP is an unincorporated membership association that aggregates the licensing authority of thousands of composers, authors, lyricists and music publishers, and issues licenses affording users access to its amassed collection of several million musical works. Each member has granted ASCAP a non-exclusive right to license the public performance rights to his or her compositions. ASCAP serves as licensing agent and collects royalties.

Applicants are large, global internet service companies engaged in the provision of numerous media services, including the online distribution of music, to their subscribers.  As part of their service packages, applicants engage in the distribution of music over…

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