In more weird news, much loved birthday banger Happy Birthday has been officially ruled as public domain. The decision was made on Tuesday, overruling copyright claims originally filed by the Clayton F Summy Co way back when in 1935, which was applied to a specific arrangement of the song, rather than the tune itself.
King stated that Summy never acquired the rights to the song’s lyrics, and that the defendents’ claims were “implausible and unreasonable”.
“Because Summy Co never acquired the rights to the Happy Birthday lyrics, [the] defendants, as Summy Co’s purported successors-in-interest, do not own a valid copyright in the Happy Birthday lyrics,” King wrote in an online judgement which you can read here.
Randall Newman, an attorney for the plaintiffs also broke the good news, stating that “Happy Birthday is finally free after 80 years, finally the charade is over. It’s unbelievable”.
Up until now, Warner Chappell Music, a division of the Warner Music Group, has charged people for use of the song. It’s been a long wait, but finally we can sing Happy Birthday to our loved ones and rest assured that we won’t be sued for copyright, if anyone happened to be concerned…
Listen to ya fave track below.