http://www.linuxtoday.com/it_management/2009070202635PRLL
"Are the millions of people who have bought ringtones breaking the law if they forget to silence their phones in a restaurant?
Joking aside (actually, that's less of a joke than you might think), the ringtone argument was made by the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) earlier this year when it sued certain mobile carriers in the US in an attempt to force them to fork over royalties every time a customer's ringtone is played.
Even though the carriers were already paying for download rights to the songs, ASCAP argued that each ring was a
"performance" and therefore those download payments weren't enough.