Original happy birthday song lyrics
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Differently it seems to be clear that the two authors only gave to the company the rights on a specific piano arrangement of the song, without surrendering the whole copyright on the song. for the publication of the lyric in a book, it has not been proven that there was an assignment of the song such as. Of course this original version of the song is in public domain since several years, but Warner claimed that the modified and definitive version “Happy birthday” was created only in 1933 (so the copyright would be still valid).ĭespite of it is true that the two authors sold the copyright of the song to Summy Co. The original song had been written 1893 by two sisters, Mildred and Patty Hill and the first title was “Good morning to you”. Summy Company in order to be published in a book. However, the original copyright seems to concern just a specific version of the song that was arranged in 1933 by Clayton F. The plaintiffs argued that Warner "wrongfully assert copyright ownership in the Happy Birthday lyrics" and that all the money the Company had been earning until then came from unlawful fees.Īccording to defendant's position, Warner was the lawful owner of the lyric due to the acquisition, in 1988, of the society that owned the copyright of the song. The author of the documentary decided not to pay and started a lawsuit against the music publisher. The lawsuit stared in 2013, after that Warner asked to musician Rupa Marya and film maker Robert Siege to pay 1.500 dollars for using “his” Happy Birthday in a documentary they were making just about the history of the song. King, the company only hold a specific version of the song (an arrangement for the piano), rather than the rights on Happy Birthday song as such. However, according to the judge George H. Warner Chappell earned a big amount of money from royalties that any person who played the song had to pay. district judge of Los Angeles declared it was in the public domain.Įverything started when Warner Chappell (a division of the famous music publisher) bought a company that (apparently) owned the copyright of the famous song, with the purpose to become the new rights holder. Nevertheless you could not use it freely during your parties in USA, at least until some days ago, when a U.S. It has been translated in almost all the languages of the world and it is probably the most famous song of the world. Many people who are interested in Copyright issues probably know the facts about the most famous song of their childhood: “Happy birthday”.