In a bid to lampoon the current state of copyright law, two Australian composers have secured the rights to 100,000,000,000 telephone tone sequences:
With the aid of a computer, [Nigel] Helyer and [Jon] Drummond have notated the tones of every imaginable phone number combination and, in turn, claimed the melodies as their own. Next time you make a phone call, therefore, chances are you\’ll be in breach of international copyright law.
If business can claim ownership over the elemental building blocks of human life, the composers say it\’s only fitting that artists lay claim to the \”DNA\” of business and are paid for it.
\”We\’re saying to (big business), \’Okay guys, the boot is on the other foot. If you really believe in copyright, you\’ve got to pay\’,\” Helyer says.
More from The Age. More information (e.g. whether they own YOUR number) can be found at the project\’s website.
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