It’s estimated that Warner/Chappell has collected approximately million in royalties each year from the “Happy Birthday” song.
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That “Happy Birthday” – one of the most sung songs in the world – was still under copyright protection at all comes as a surprise to many people. Then, Warner/Chappell purchased the Birch Tree Group in 1988, inheriting the copyright to a song which at that point was nearly a century old. Imagine all of the major events and public performances that Happy Birthday has been sung at and you only start to comprehend how big that could be.
Warner/Chappell contended that Jessica Hill, a sister who had inherited Mildred Hill’s interest in the song after her death in 1916, renewed the copyright to “Song Stories”, which included “Good Morning to All“, in 1921.
The Hill sisters later assigned the rights to a publishing company owned by Clayton Summy.
The film project eventually led to Nelson filing a lawsuit against Warner for its wrongful copyrighting of the track, and yesterday (September 22), U.S. District Judge George H. King deemed “Happy Birthday” to be in the public domain. Her lawyers say now anyone can perform “Happy Birthday” for free.
The basic “Happy Birthday” tune, derived from another popular children’s song, “Good Morning to All“, has long been in the public domain, and King’s decision, though it could be appealed, makes the entirety fair game for use.
Warner/Chappell has said it doesn’t try to collect royalties from just anyone singing the song but those who use it in a commercial enterprise.
Even if Patty wrote the words to the song, the court said, she abandoned the rights to them, and that means Warner-Chappelle never acquired them.
Nelson was joined by several other plaintiffs in the class action, including Rupa Marya and Robert Siegel.
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Warner has said it is considering its options following the ruling.
