Wednesday, October 10, 2007

What's next?

From the give-me-$5-for-the-song-playing-in-your-head department...

There's a case in the UK where a car repair business is being sued for copyright infringement because their mechanics are playing music loud enough that it can be overheard by others. Silly, no?

Even sillier, it's not the employees of the business that are being sued for the actual sharing of the music (by turning their radios on). Rather, it is the business being sued for facilitating that sharing. (Never mind that broadcast radio has already paid for the broadcasted content and that it is able to be heard by anyone with enough skill to operate a tuning dial or button.) Or will the employees be sued at a later date, once it can be determined whose radio played what song when?

What's next? Having to pay a service fee for riding the elevator because muzak was playing while you rode? Of course, the elevator company would have to record the number of riders and the distance (in floors) that each rider traveled.

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