July 29, 2004
Ringtones and Piracy
[ via the Malaysia Star ]. "The MPA estimates the piracy rate in the ringtone space to be 40%. “Most of the content providers have advertisements in the newspapers but do not have the proper licences to sell ringtones. There is only a handphone contact in the newspaper advertisement, with no address, so we can't even send out warning letters,” moaned a source from a local music publishing company.
Ringtone providers are required to hold the Applications Service Provider Class Licence and that falls under the jurisdiction of the MCMC.
MACP general manager Chan Miew said that the telcos have also agreed to block short message service (SMS) short-codes (a five-digit code used in premium SMS services) if these content providers still refuse to obtain the required MACP licences. “We believe that with the telcos' support, the MACP would be able to license most of these operators,” she said.
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