Happy Birthday" is now free
According to what we know from history, "Happy Birthday" was written by Patty Hill, a kindergarten teacher in the US state of Kentucky back in 1893.
It has become a tradition around the world and has always been free for us to sing at our birthday celebrations.
If you are a musician, however, and want to record the song commercially, you may find a bill in the mail – until yesterday, that is.
The music publisher Warner/Chappell Music has long claimed it owned the copyright to the song and has actually tried to collect fees from artists using it for albums and videos.
Yesterday a US judge put a stop to that.
US Federal judge George King in Los Angeles ruled that the copyright claim was invalid and put the song in the public domain.
“This is a huge victory for the public and for the artists who want to use ‘Happy Birthday to You’ in their videos and music,’” lawyer Daniel Schacht said.
He represented plaintiffs in a class-action suit filed in 2013 after the producers of a low-budget documentary about the song’s history balked at the $1,500 (53,000 baht) the publisher demanded for its use.
“Everyone who has a birthday can celebrate,” he said.
Rupa Marya, one of the plaintiffs in the case and leader of a California band that had been asked to pay $455 to use Happy Birthday on one of its albums, hailed Monday’s settlement as a key moment for the music industry.
“It’s nice to know the song is officially liberated,” she told reporters as she sang 'Happy Birthday' outside the courthouse while playing the guitar.