[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/www.grossmcginley.com\/resources\/blog\/a-reason-to-celebrate-copyright-registration-on-happy-birthday-song-invalidated\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.grossmcginley.com\/resources\/blog\/a-reason-to-celebrate-copyright-registration-on-happy-birthday-song-invalidated\/","headline":"A Reason to Celebrate; Copyright Registration on \u201cHappy Birthday\u201d Song Invalidated","name":"A Reason to Celebrate; Copyright Registration on \u201cHappy Birthday\u201d Song Invalidated","description":"A federal judge in LA handed down a ruling this week that any exclusive rights to the […]","datePublished":"2015-09-24","dateModified":"2021-05-17","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.grossmcginley.com\/resources\/author\/john-gross\/#Person","name":"John F. \"Jack\" Gross","url":"https:\/\/www.grossmcginley.com\/resources\/author\/john-gross\/","identifier":13,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.grossmcginley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/John-F-Jack-Gross-headshot-150x150.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.grossmcginley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/John-F-Jack-Gross-headshot-150x150.jpg","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Gross McGinley, LLP","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.grossmcginley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/logopng-00436945-e1531508982151.png","url":"https:\/\/www.grossmcginley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/logopng-00436945-e1531508982151.png","width":600,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.grossmcginley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/happy-birthday.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.grossmcginley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/happy-birthday.jpg","height":800,"width":800},"url":"https:\/\/www.grossmcginley.com\/resources\/blog\/a-reason-to-celebrate-copyright-registration-on-happy-birthday-song-invalidated\/","about":["Blog"],"wordCount":409,"keywords":["Intellectual Property"],"articleBody":"A federal judge in LA handed down a ruling this week that any exclusive rights to the song pertained only to specific piano arrangements of the tune \u2013 not the song or lyrics.\u00a0 The copyright, currently held by Warner\/Chappell Music, an affiliate of Warner Music, formerly owned by Time Warner, relied on a tenuous copyright claim dating back to 1935.\u00a0 This claim gave Warner\/Chappel the right to charge royalties for any use that was deemed a public performance of the song, which included any use in movies and TV shows, when sung for the benefit of a patron by a begrudging wait-staff at restaurants, and even when sung by Congress to President Reagan after his State of the Union Address in 1988.\u00a0 (Legal action was allegedly considered by the predecessor owner of the copyright, The Birch Tree Group.)The suit was brought by film-makers who had paid thousands of dollars for various uses in movies and documentaries.\u00a0 It was estimated during the litigation that third-parties paid around $2,000,000 a year in royalties to Warner\/Chappell for use of the song.\u00a0 The tangled web of revisions to US copyright law and changing versions of the song from the genesis of the melody as the song entitled \u201cGood Morning to All\u201d in 1893 to the present day make it virtually impossible to know the extent to which the song is in the public domain.\u00a0 However, this ruling eradicates the one practical way of enforcing the copyright and destroys the final barrier to the vital freedoms we craved for decades. \u00a0Go forth and sing \u201cHappy Birthday\u201d in public places! \u00a0Celebrate your special day with a one-candled slice of cake and a song at your local eatery! \u00a0You can even share videos of babies dancing to Happy Birthday, without fear or guilt.Jack F. Gross\u00a0is a partner in the firm\u2019s Business, Media & Publishing and Real Estate\u00a0practice groups.\u00a0Jack\u2019s advertising law practice includes working with publishers, advertisers, and advertising agencies on advertising contracts, review of promotional material and consideration of\u00a0intellectual property concerns for advertisements in all media.Nicole J. O\u2019Hara, a member of the firm\u2019s Business Services Group, has specific experience with intellectual property law.\u00a0 She works with businesses large and small, advancing and managing patent portfolios, drafting patent applications, and resolving trademark, copyright, trade secret, and patent-related issues.\u00a0 Nicole also negotiates contracts for the commercialization of intellectual property including licenses, confidentiality, material transfer, inter-institutional, service, and research contracts."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Resources","item":"https:\/\/www.grossmcginley.com\/resources\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Blog","item":"https:\/\/www.grossmcginley.com\/resources\/\/blog\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"A Reason to Celebrate; Copyright Registration on \u201cHappy Birthday\u201d Song Invalidated","item":"https:\/\/www.grossmcginley.com\/resources\/blog\/a-reason-to-celebrate-copyright-registration-on-happy-birthday-song-invalidated\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]