Quote:
Originally Posted by Luffy
In 1988, Warner Communications paid $28,000,000 for the rights to the song "Happy Birthday To You". It was composed in 1924 by two women, but Irving Berlin first included the words to the music in 1933. Officially, if you sing it in a public place, you owe Warner Communications money. It was also the first song to be sung in space, by the Apollo 9 crew. The song was originally a song to be sung in class, referred to as "Good Morning To All".
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That's not quite accurate. The tune was composed in the late 1800s, and first published in 1893 to the words "Good Morning to All".
The first published version with the words "Happy Birthday to You" was published in 1912, and subsequently in other books in 1918, 1924 and 1933.
Despite this, copyright was claimed from a publication in 1935, and so far upheld (but see below).
In the EU, the copyright will expire on 1st January 2017.
In the US the copyright will expire on 1st January 2031.
That is, it will expire if it isn't already invalid in the US. There's an ongoing court case to show that in the US the song is already in the public domain. It might even finish before the end of the copyright in the EU, who knows? It's been going since mid 2013.
(Copyright is a bit of a hobby horse. Sorry.)