According to 1998 Guinness Book of World Records, “Happy Birthday to You” is the most recognised song in English language, followed by “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow”. It’s a song that is traditionally sung to celebrate the anniversary of a person’s birth around a candlelit cake, but of those who sing it have shown little concern for its controversial history or realised that they are not free to sing it. To sing Happy Birthday in a restaurant, at a concert or public place, royalties have to be paid.
Therein lies a twist. It was in 1935 that an American company registered it for copyright. In 1988, Warner/Chappell Music purchased it along with the copyright to the song. Based on the 1935 copyright registration, Warner claims that the US copyright will not expire until 2030, and that unauthorised public performances of the song are technically illegal unless royalties are paid to them. They have been making millions every year from “licensing” the song. Last year, the creatively named Good Morning to You Productions, a documentary film company planning a film about the song, has given a new twist to the controversy by filing a lawsuit in the US claiming that the song should be treated as in public domain.
Based on extensive research by American law professor Robert Brauneis, it has accused Warner/Chappell Music of falsely claiming copyright to the song. The challengers have claimed to offer irrefutable documentary evidence, some dating back to 1893, to show that the copyright to Happy Birthday to You, if there ever was a valid copyright to any part of the song expired no later than 1921 and that if defendant Warner/Chappell owns any rights to Happy Birthday to You, those rights are limited to the extremely narrow right to reproduce and distribute specific piano arrangements for the song published in 1935. So till the dispute rumbles on in US courts, think before you sing Happy Birthday.
Tweet: Think before you sing #HappyBirthday because you are not free to #sing!!! http://www.newindianexpress.com/editorials/Disputed-Birthday-of-the-Birthday-Song/2014/03/12/article2103639.ece#.UyAqED-Swb8 … …
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