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Happy Birthday not copyrighted, court rules

Accepted submission by jdavidb at 2015-09-23 02:33:22
Digital Liberty

jdavidb [soylentnews.org] writes:

One of the most egregious abuses of copyright of our time has been the claim that the song "Happy Birthday to You [wikipedia.org]" is copyrighted. Movies and television shows have been made to look ridiculous all my life by singing "For He's a Jolly Good Fella" at birthdays instead of "Happy Birthday" so they don't have to pay a licensing fee. Today this wrong has been righted!

A federal judge on Tuesday ruled that Warner/Chappell Music does not own the copyright rights to famous "Happy Birthday to You" song. Federal judge George H. King made the ruling Tuesday in response to a lawsuit that sought to have the song placed in the public domain.

http://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/music/music-company-does-not-own-happy-birthday-song-copyright-judge-n432001 [nbcnews.com]

It's nice to get to take back a part of our culture.

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