The Copyright To ‘Happy Birthday’ Was Just Ruled Invalid; Now We Can All Sing It Without Getting Sued
No more getting Michael Jackson to secretly write your show's birthday ditties.
As anyone who’s grinned through an awkward office birthday celebration will tell you, ‘Happy Birthday’ is a cultural touchstone that’s almost universal in its recognition.
What a lot of people might not be aware of, though, is that the song has actually been under copyright since 1935. Warner Music Group have held ownership of the song since 1988, and make a few sweet million bucks each year through suing movies, TV shows and even restaurant chains who use it without their permission.
As a result, arguably the world’s most recogniseable song is weirdly absent from birthday scenes in movies and sitcoms, with the public-domain ‘For He/She’s a Jolly Good Fellow’ usually standing in. I don’t think that’s why they included it in Life of Brian, but I’m going to embed that clip anyway because I like it and you can’t stop me.
But a federal judge in Los Angeles has just ruled in favour of a class-action lawsuit brought against Warner claiming their copyright is invalid, effectively putting the song in the public domain for the first time in 80 years. While that’s undoubtedly a win against unnecessarily intrusive copyright claims everywhere, expect ‘Happy Birthday’ to be even more infuriatingly ubiquitous now that every TV show cast can sing it than it is already. No more getting Michael Jackson to secretly write your show’s birthday ditties.