NEW DELHI, May 11 -- The few seconds of music you hear while waiting for someone to answer a phone call is copyrighted intellectual property, and telecom operators offering caller tunes may now need separate licences and royalty payments to lyricists and composers after a recent Calcutta High Court ruling.

On 8 May, the Calcutta High Court ruled against Vodafone Idea in its long-running dispute with the Indian Performing Right Society (IPRS), holding that telecom operators cannot offer caller tunes and ringtones solely on the basis of licences obtained from music labels.

Mint explains the ruling and what it could mean for telecom operators and digital platforms.

The dispute centres on whether telecom operators offering caller tunes and...