Have you ever wondered why at restaurants they sing birthday songs like “Happy Happy Birthday” rather than “Happy Birthday to You?” The reason is that Warner/Chappell Music claimed to have a copyright on the “Happy Birthday to You” song and you had to have their authorization to sing the song publicly. It is estimated that “Happy Birthday to You” earned 50 million dollars in royalties, making it the highest earning song ever.
The “Happy Birthday to You” song was said to have been created by the Hill sisters of Kentucky in the early 1900s. They were kindergarten teachers and would sing the song “Good Morning to All” at the beginning of school with their students. They would substitute words in that song to keep the children engaged. It is said that this led to the creation of “Happy Birthday to You,” which first appeared in print in 1912. The early appearances of “Happy Birthday to You” do not include copyright notices.
In 2010, Robert Brauneis, a law professor researched the copyright of “Happy Birthday to You” and concluded that the copyright was almost certainly in the public domain. Warner’s copyright of the song rested on a 1935 piano arrangement by Preston Ware Orem and Mrs. R. R. Forman. On June 13, 2013 after paying $1,500 to secure the right to use “Happy Birthday to You” song, documentary filmmaker Jennifer Nelson filed a class action lawsuit against Warner. The lawsuit built upon the work of Professor Brauneis and in September 2015, Warner’s copyright on “Happy Birthday to You” was ruled to only apply to the piano arrangement, which meant they had collected millions for a song they never owned.
This still meant that someone else could claim a copyright to “Happy Birthday to You.” On June 28, 2016, the final settlement of the case was accepted by the court and that “hereby declares that, as of the Final Settlement Date, the Song entitled Happy Birthday to You! will be in the public domain.” This means that we are now all owners of the copyright to “Happy Birthday to You”. In restaurants and other public places, you will start hearing the classic form of the Happy Birthday song.
For years, businesses big and small paid millions to Warner to be granted rights to use the “Happy Birthday to You” song. Few if any ever challenged Warner’s claim that they owned the music, because it was cheaper to pay the fees than become involved in a lawsuit.
New technology is constantly being challenged by companies like Warner, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) claiming copyright infringement. They claimed that the VCR and cassette decks were used to illegally reproduce copyrighted songs and sought to have their use restricted. This group fought against technology that let you skip commercials or store your music in the cloud. Some of this group have even pushed for a requirement that any new technology would have to receive approval before it can be developed.