When your co-worker’s ringtone constantly fills the air with the latest auto-tune hit, it is most definitely annoying, but is it also a violation of copyright?

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) claims that when someone’s cell phone rings and one of its members’ songs plays as a ringtone, the wireless provider should pay performance fees for the right to use that song.

Wireless providers do not agree. In January, Verizon Wireless asked a New York district court to step in via a motion for summary judgment, which is basically a request by the defendant –Verizon – that the court rule in its favor without taking the case to trial.

On Wednesday, a New York district court sided with Verizon and ruled that it does not have to pay a performance fee in addition to the 24 cents per ringtone mechanical fee it already pays.

ASCAP argued that Verizon was liable when a ringtone was being downloaded and when it played during an incoming call.

On the first point, the court found that Verizon is not liable because a song cannot be played during the download process and therefore does not constitute a performance.

“ASCAP’s argument amounts to a claim that Verizon could change or enable its technology to allow a user to listen to a ringtone while downloading it,” the court found. “This argument is not addressed to the technology at issue in this case and does not present a factual context that is ripe for review.”

But what about ringtones played during an incoming call? The court pointed to the Copyright Act, which makes exceptions for songs played within the normal circle of friends, family, and social acquaintances. If you buy a CD and play a song for a friend, you don’t have to pay a licensing fee; the same rule essentially applies for ringtones.

In addition, you’re purchasing and installing that ringtone for your own entertainment – you don’t expect to make a profit from the “performance” of the song.

“Customers do not play ringtones with any expectation of profit,” the court said. “The playing of a ringtone by any Verizon customers in public is thus exempt [by the Copyright Act] and does not require them to obtain a public performance license.”

Furthermore, when a ringtone plays, Verizon does not “recite, render, play, dance, or act [the ringtone] either directly or by means of any device,” and thus does not “perform” the music, the court said.

The only thing Verizon does is send a signal to a mobile phone when it is receiving an incoming call – and that signal is the same whether the user has a ringtone or not.

A similar case between AT&T and ASCAP is also pending.

“The ruling is an important victory for consumers, making it clear that playing music in public, when done without any commercial purpose, does not infringe copyright,” the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) wrote in a blog post. “This ruling should also protect consumers who roll down their car windows with the radio on, who take a radio to the beach, or who sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to their children in a public park.”

Ringtones are not ASCAP’s only target. The group has teamed up with other music groups like the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) to push Congress for legislation that would require licensing fees for music played in film downloads.

Songwriters and composers currently collect a performance fee when their music is played in a movie, on TV, in a video, or video game. If someone downloads those same shows or videos digitally, like an episode of “30 Rock” on iTunes, a public performance fee is not collected, according to a note on the NMPA’s Web site.