Ringtone piracy booming in Asia

The boom in the mobile phone download industry in Asia has produced extensive music piracy, and copyright owners are fighting a hard battle to claim royalties, reported wire agency AFP.

Countries in Asia that ensure ringtone vendors pay royalties include Japan, Korea, Singapore and Malaysia. Others like Thailand and Philippines are almost totally not licensed, said regional director K.T. Ang of the International Conferation of Societies of Authors and Composers.

Japanese firms will negotiate when the law states that they need to pay royalties. Countries outside Japan operate in an entirely different business culture, Ang said in the report.

Ringtone piracy is deemed a civil liability in Singapore, which means copyright owners have to take their own legal action. The onus falls on the Composers and Authors Society of Singapore (COMPASS) and Music Publishers of Singapore (MPS) to make sure operators comply with the law. However, they have gained little success.

Although copyright owners are determined to pursue errant vendors, the authorities involved know that the long-term solution lies in changing the way Asians perceive intellectual property.

In 2001, Record label EMI sued YourMobile, a ring tone seller and wireless advertising firm based in Santa Monica, California. The case has since been settled, and chief operating officer Bryan Biniak said YourMobile has received licences from EMI, plus three other major publishing representatives.

The number of licences that a ringtone company must have varies throughout the globe. In Europe, ringtone sellers generally have to get just one licence from a music publisher. That licence covers all the songs in a publisher's catalogue. If the publisher is located in a country that is part of the European Union, the company can then sell ringtones anywhere on the continent.

In the United States, companies have to pay for mechanical rights, or the right to reproduce the music in a ringtone, and performance rights, or the right to play the music. Rights are generally purchased through the individual publishers, but many rely on groups like the Harry Fox Agency to do their work.

CNET News.com's Ben Charny contributed to this report.