Does Singing Happy Birthday Make You Feel Like a Thief?

Unbeknownst to many, the rights to the song Happy Birthday To You are not owned by the people. Warner/Chappell Music Inc, the music publishing arm of Warner Music Group own the rights to the song and have been collecting licensing fees for its use since their acquisition of Birch Tree Ltd. in 1998.

But, as reported by Billboard, one company is very unhappy about this and is taking the company to court to get the company to give the song back to the people. Good Morning To You Productions Corp. are making a documentary about the song and, after paying a $1,500 fee to make use of the song, they have decided to try and take the power back.

If found to be using the song, which is sung around the world in honour of the birth anniversaries of young and old, without permission a party risk potential fines of up to $150,000.

Good Morning To You have filed a class action suit against Warner/Chappell (you can read the whole document here), saying that the company “boldly, but wrongfully and unlawfully, insists that it owns the copyright to “Happy Birthday to You,”'

The song is said to rake in somewhere in the vicinity of $2 million per year for Warner/Chappell, and will continue to do so until 2030 unless a class action, such as this one filed by Good Morning To You is successful. This is due to the copyright stemming from a piano arrangement of the song published in 1935; all works created after 1923 are guaranteed 95 years of protection.