MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - “Happy Birthday” is not owned by Warner Brothers

pdurrant · 09-23-2015, 04:41 AM

The Ruling

It's undisputed that the copyright on Good Morning to All expired in the US in 1949. Since the UK was following the rule of the shorter term at that time, it also expired in the UK. So the tune is in the public domain in the US and the UK.

The tricky bit is the lyrics. The judgement doesn't actually declare that the lyrics are in the public domain in the US. It just says that there's no evidence that the copyright (if any) in the lyrics was transferred to the company that now claims them.

However, one reason for the lack of evidence of a transfer of rights is a lack of evidence of any copyright registration for the lyrics. In which case, the lyrics are either now in the public domain or still under common law copyright. But if under common law copyright, under the 1976 copyright act, the common law copyright expires 70 years after the author's death (in 1946), i.e. 1st January 2017.

So the lyrics might still be in copyright in the US (& the EU). But the beneficiaries would be Patty Hill's estate, not Warner Brothers.

09-23-2015, 04:41 AM	#5
pdurrant The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠 Posts: 74,080 Karma: 315558332 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Norfolk, England Device: Kindle Oasis	The Ruling It's undisputed that the copyright on Good Morning to All expired in the US in 1949. Since the UK was following the rule of the shorter term at that time, it also expired in the UK. So the tune is in the public domain in the US and the UK. The tricky bit is the lyrics. The judgement doesn't actually declare that the lyrics are in the public domain in the US. It just says that there's no evidence that the copyright (if any) in the lyrics was transferred to the company that now claims them. However, one reason for the lack of evidence of a transfer of rights is a lack of evidence of any copyright registration for the lyrics. In which case, the lyrics are either now in the public domain or still under common law copyright. But if under common law copyright, under the 1976 copyright act, the common law copyright expires 70 years after the author's death (in 1946), i.e. 1st January 2017. So the lyrics might still be in copyright in the US (& the EU). But the beneficiaries would be Patty Hill's estate, not Warner Brothers. Last edited by pdurrant; 09-23-2015 at 04:47 AM.