A California federal judge is to decide whether Warner/Chappell owns the 120-year-old “Happy Birthday to You” as Warner/Chappell and Good Morning to You Productions (“GMTY”) came to an agreement to do so on March 23. The copyright suit was brought against Warner/Chappell in 2013 by GMTY, alleging Warner/Chappell “extracted millions of dollars in unlawful licensing fees” for the song despite the controversy over the origins and ownership of the song.
Arguing that the song has been in the public domain for 65 years, GMTY President Jennifer Nelson said, “If you don’t pay for the license to the song they will notify you and let you know that you have to pay. They’ve never actually sued anybody but they have strong-armed people into having to pay.” She said that using the song for 10 seconds at a festival cost the company $1,500. Additionally, GMTY received a letter warning that it could face a $150,000 statutory fine for copyright infringement.
To the judge’s request for a breakdown of the license fees that Warner/Chappell charges for using the song, it responded that major motion pictures pay up to five to six figures while $500 to $1,500 is charged for a music synchronization license.
Although Warner/Chappell claims its copyright ownership of the song, GMTY says that the song could not have been copyrightable because the song had already been in the public domain for more than 30 years and that the Warner/Chappell’s copyright is limited to “specific piano arrangements” for the song.
According to court records, the authors of the original “Happy Birthday,” which was composed in the late 1800s, are Mildred Hill and her sister Patty Hill. They later sold their rights to Clayton F. Summy Company that published the song in 1935 and claimed to own the copyright. Warner/Chappell claims that it acquired the copyright of the song in the acquisition of Birch Tree Group Limited in 1988.
Interestingly, no courts have ever declared the validity of Warner/Chappell’s copyright ownership of the song’s melody or lyrics.