Not So Fast – “Happy Birthday To You” May Not Be in the Public Domain
24 09 2015The World’s Most popular Song
You all know the tune, so why do you rarely hear the song Happy Birthday To You in movies and on television? The reason is that from 1988 until yesterday Warner/Chappell Music, Inc. had been demanding royalties on the lyrics to the song. 1988 was the year Warner/Chappell purchased purchased Birchtree Ltd., the purported owner of the copyright in the lyrics, for an estimated $25 million, placing an estimated value on the Happy Birthday To You portion of the purchase at a reported $5 million. Since that time, Warner/Chappell has been collecting a reported $2 million per year in royalties on the lyrics. That all ended on September 22, 2015, when a California U.S. District Judge George H. King ruled that Warner/Chappell was not the owner of the copyright in the lyrics to the world’s most popular song.
[ed: the discussion is about the various rights . . . noting that the rightful owner of the copyright on the lyrics is not identified, so the lyrics are “orphans.”]
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