Internet companies that offer digital downloads of music got some good news on Tuesday. In a case pitting the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers against Yahoo! and RealNetworks, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a lower court’s finding that a digital music download is not a public performance under copyright law.
Separately, however, the circuit ordered a recalculation of the fees for the blanket licenses Yahoo! and RealNetworks must pay to ASCAP for use of its collection, approximately 45 percent of all the musical works played online.
