Posts Tagged: "Happy Birthday to You"

For as long as I can remember, whenever we celebrated a birthday, we inevitably would gather around the birthday boy or girl and sing “Happy Birthday To You.” But now that the copyright is in question, new evidence brought to light that the song belonged in the public domain. Happy Birthday may very well be the oldest – and most widely recognizable – orphan work of all time. In 2013, a documentary filmmaker challenged the copyright on the world’s most popular song, calling Warner/Chappell Music’s claim to copyright royalties bogus. The filmmakers’ claim was no small declaration. By 1996, Warner/Chappell, who since 1988 has purported to own the rights to the song, was collecting over $2 million per year in licensing fees. The basis of Warner/Chappell’s claim is a copyright registration from 1935, made by the Summy Company, Warner/Chappell’s predecessor in interest.

[O]ne production company has decided to take this battle to the courts in the hopes of overturning what it feels are misappropriated copyright protections… The evidenced entered into the case by Good Morning To You Productions dates back to 1893, when a manuscript containing 73 songs was sold by sisters Mildred J. and Patty Smith Hill to publisher Clayton F. Summy. One of those songs was titled “Good Morning to All,” which contains the original melody for the song that became “Happy Birthday to You.” Within the year, Summy published Song Stories for the Kindergarten, which included “Good Morning to All,” and in October 1893, Summy obtained copyright protection as the proprietor, but not as the author, of the collection of songs.