The official history of the song has it Ffxiv Gil that it started out as atune written by kindergarten teacher sisters Patty and Mildred Hillin 1893 as Good Morning To All, for their pupils to sing eachmorning. Within 20 years, that melody was appearing as HappyBirthday To You in published books of songs, suggesting widespreadrecognition and standardisation.
However, the exact copyright status of the song from then ismuddled, and it's not even clear if both the lyrics and tune weresimply adapted from an earlier popularly-known song. The GoodMorning To All melody was known to belong to the Hill sisters,though, in the eyes of the legal system.
Warner (or, more specifically, one of its subdivisions,Warner/Chapell) claim the copyright because it bought the Clayton FSummy Company in 1998. Among the music publishing company'scatalogue was the canonical Happy Birthday To You, which wasregistered by Summy and Jessica Hill (sister of Patty and Mildred)in 1935 to stop it being used without permission in movies andradio shows of the day.
At the time that would have meant (with renewal after 28 yearsfrom publication) the song would have entered the public domain in1991, but thanks to repeated reforms to US copyright lawWarner/Chapell has the legal right to demand royalties on the songuntil at least 2030.
Or, so it claims. Good Morning To You Productions is a filmcompany planning a documentary exploring in exhaustive detail whyit things Happy Birthday isn't in copyright, and it argues thatit's probably been in the public domain since 1921.
However, the exact copyright status of the song from then ismuddled, and it's not even clear if both the lyrics and tune weresimply adapted from an earlier popularly-known song. The GoodMorning To All melody was known to belong to the Hill sisters,though, in the eyes of the legal system.
Warner (or, more specifically, one of its subdivisions,Warner/Chapell) claim the copyright because it bought the Clayton FSummy Company in 1998. Among the music publishing company'scatalogue was the canonical Happy Birthday To You, which wasregistered by Summy and Jessica Hill (sister of Patty and Mildred)in 1935 to stop it being used without permission in movies andradio shows of the day.
At the time that would have meant (with renewal after 28 yearsfrom publication) the song would have entered the public domain in1991, but thanks to repeated reforms to US copyright lawWarner/Chapell has the legal right to demand royalties on the songuntil at least 2030.
Or, so it claims. Good Morning To You Productions is a filmcompany planning a documentary exploring in exhaustive detail whyit things Happy Birthday isn't in copyright, and it argues thatit's probably been in the public domain since 1921.
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