Legal Question in Technology Law in California

TV Theme Songs / Cell Phone Ringtone

Sorry. Not sure if I selected the right category of law.

My question is, is it illegal to have TV theme songs in MP3 format from the web, and transfer them to my cell phone to play as ringtones for personal use? I am not trading or selling them, but only using them for myself as ringtones. I thought this falls under the ''Fair Use Act,'' but not totally sure.

''If'' I can have them on my cell phone, what are the restrictions (i.e. cannot have the whole theme song - needs to be a ''sample'' like 30 seconds), etc.?

Thank you,

D.


Asked on 10/01/06, 8:06 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Stone Law Offices of Michael B. Stone Toll Free 1-855-USE-MIKE

Re: TV Theme Songs / Cell Phone Ringtone

Legalities notwithstanding, I really doubt that anybody is going to sue you for downloading the theme music to a TV show and putting it on your cell phone. TV and cartoon theme songs are so widely and openly available for downloading that, in my opinion, if the copyright owners really cared they would have taken some action by now against the web site operators. I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but I suspect the TV networks are are too busy trying to figure out what to do with YouTube to worry about -your cell phone-.

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Answered on 10/01/06, 8:17 pm


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