Happy Birthday To You's complex, sordid copyright history

Fred sez, "Prof. Robert Brauneis of GW Law School has done a mind-boggling amount of research into the origins and copyright history of 'Happy Birthday to You,' a song that still makes $2m per year for its copyright owner. Not only does Prof. Brauneis debunk many old myths about the song, he also concludes that the song is almost certainly in the public domain, although it's probably too expensive for anyone to actually prove that in court. But Prof. Brauneis is posting more than 200 documents unearthed in his research, so you all now have a head start." Link (Thanks, Fred!)

[#1 posted by Joe , June 19, 2008 1:32 PM]

What would it take to organize a fight to get the song declared public domain?

There are a number of chain restaurants where the staff celebrates customers' birthdays, invariably with some alterna-birthday song. While the chains certainly wouldn't want to take on any legal risk, some might be interested in contributing support to an effort to free up the song.

Likewise, any organization that has paid a significant chunk of that $2m/year might want its money back.

[#2 posted by SamSam , June 19, 2008 1:33 PM]

Hooray! I always hated forking over 5 cents every time I sung that song to someone. I've completely stopped going to birthday parties in the last few years because of this.

..now I have 6 years of overdue birthday presents to give.

[#3 posted by SamSam , June 19, 2008 1:51 PM]

@ #1: I expect Hallmark would probably be the first company. I bet they pay a pretty heft chunk of that sum each year.

Then again, 1 or 2 million is probably so small for Hallmark that they really wouldn't want to get involved in a suit.

[#4 posted by erindipity , June 19, 2008 1:57 PM]

Whoops, Happy (2daysbelated) Birthday, Cory!

[#5 posted by akbar56 , June 19, 2008 2:00 PM]

Can I throw a vote in for "this is the worst song ever and I am sick to death of hearing it at birthdays?"

[#6 posted by whoo_whoo , June 19, 2008 2:12 PM]

I love it, when, in a movie, they'll sing a few bars of the "Happy Birthday Song" and then something will happen that keeps them from singing the rest of the song and pay the royalty. To be safe, often the song will be a slight variation of the notes in Happy Birthday. The virtual fatalistically interrupted Happy Birthday riff.

Warner/Chappell (a division of Warner Music Group) bought company who owned the rights to "Happy Birthday" in 1990 for 15 million USD. It is probably the most popular song in the English Language.

[#7 posted by Tgg161 , June 19, 2008 2:21 PM]

I love this paper because of the incredible research he did -- he dug at every 'fact' he came across until he hit the bottom (often overturning things that have been taken at face value in other well-researched HBDTY histories). He even debunks Snopes in the footnotes!

The link isn't obvious in the linked document, but he provides all the sources (including mp3s of relivant scores) here:
http://www.law.gwu.edu/Faculty/profile.aspx?id=1741

[#8 posted by Tgg161 , June 19, 2008 2:24 PM]

dang, wrong link. Here are all the sources for the paper: http://docs.law.gwu.edu/facweb/rbrauneis/happybirthday.htm

[#9 posted by Stefan Jones , June 19, 2008 3:11 PM]

For a while the most common TV & movie birthday song seemed to be "for he's a jolly good fellow."

[#10 posted by crazyeddie , June 19, 2008 8:55 PM]

I work at a restaurant, and even though I work in the dishroom, I can personally vouch that everybody who works there is more sick of the alterna-birthday song than #5 could possibly be of HBDTY. Somebody set up a legal fund so we can drop a few dollars in. *Please*

[#11 posted by Xopher , June 19, 2008 10:25 PM]

We always sing Happy Birthday to the tune of the Volga Boat Song, with these words:

Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday!
Misery is in the air;
People dying everywhere.
Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday!
When you open your surprise
You will find it's your demise.
Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday!

...and so on and on and on and on. It has bajillions of verses. And they're easy to make up on the fly. (We usually put in an "Unh!" and a foot stomp after each "Happy Birthday!")

[#12 posted by Xenu , June 19, 2008 10:44 PM]

Happy birthday
Happy birthday
Just for you
Just for you
Open up your present
May your day be pleasant
Just for you
Just for you
- Binky the Clown

[#13 posted by IvyMike , June 20, 2008 1:23 AM]

Proof that "Happy Birthday" is not the worst:

From the pasta we make
To lasagna we bake
Ba ba ba ba
We’re wising you a happy birthday!

We hope you will remember
This fond event forever
We’re wishing you a happy birthday!

It’s like family and friends
At the Olive Garden
In the true Italiano way
Hey! Hey!

So if youre looking for some fun
Try Hospitaliano
Have a happy happy day
Hey!

[#14 posted by bjacques , June 20, 2008 2:55 AM]

I have no idea how much breaking Happy Birthday out of copyright jail would cost, but its symbolic value could be huge. The story of copyright lords spinning money off the two old ladies after a century has attained the status of folklore and it feeds the idea that it's hopeless to resist an entity that could pull that off. Knocking this down would put it in the class of urban legends that involve hippie babysitters and maniacs with bloody hooks.

[#15 posted by airship , June 20, 2008 6:41 AM]

You say it's your birthday
It's my birthday too, yeah
They say it's your birthday
We're gonna have a good time
I'm glad it's your birthday
Happy birthday to you.

Shoot, if you have to pay royalties to wish someone a Happy Birthday, you might as well pay them to teh Beatles!

[#16 posted by historyman68 , June 21, 2008 1:56 AM]

@15: You mean, of course, Michael Jackson?