Happy Birthday \o/

Zensteve

Zensteve

ChimpPhobiaFilms said:
You should be able to use Happy Birthday without getting sued.
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Why? Based on What? Frankly I think I should be able to use clips from Man Of Steel in my productions without getting sued.... because I want to....

Fact is at this point it is considered a legitimate, active copyright and as such they have a right to protect that copyright. The court may rule differently but I don't really think so. :hmm:
 
I'm not saying that we should be able to use clips from major blockbusters playing at local theaters. I'm just saying, and old song from the late 1800- early 1900s, recognized as the most known song in the human language, and has been sung millions of times everyday for the last 100+ years should be able to be used briefly in an film made by people that don't have much money. And, the melody is in the public domain. Singing "Happy Birthday to you" four times, putting someones name in the third line can be illegal in some situations. And it's not just in film, in most restaurants, Happy Birthday is not allowed to be sung. The song was in a way stolen. Patty and Mildred J. Hill created the song "Good Morning to All", which is the exact same melody of Happy Birthday, and incredibly similar lyrics. The two wanted the song to be in Public Domain, but somebody changed the lyrics a little bit, and it eventually became a copy-righted song. I don't find that fair.
 
I thought that works become public domain after everyone involved in creating it dies... or does it work differently with music?
 
Cryogenic said:
Fact is at this point it is considered a legitimate, active copyright and as such they have a right to protect that copyright. The court may rule differently but I don't really think so. :hmm:
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There is significant prior art (going back to the 1800's I believe) which suggests the current copyrights to 'Happy Birthday' are invalid. No one has really challenged it on this point yet - most people just settle because it's far cheaper than litigation. I fully expect the court to invalidate the copyright in this case.
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Birthday_to_You

Short version: It was "published" in 1898 by the Hill sisters, but not copyrighted. It was somehow copyrighted in 1935 by the publisher of "Good Morning to All", a song the tune was based on.

So, in the USA, copyright lives for 95 years after the original copyright date, and makes Warner Music Group some $2MM a year until 2030, or someone challenges it. By all accounts, it is public domain, just the $5K "fee" is cheaper than the court case to prove it as fact.

Seems in the EU, it's date of the author's death (1946) + 70 years, so there it will be public domain in 2017.

CraigL
 
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