GUEST
BLOG / By Wikipedia--This
article is about the song “Happy Birthday to You!” It was first published in 1893 and has
eventually gone into the public domain (but not before a fight that went just
short of the U.S. Supreme Court.) “HB2U”
is considered a folk tune that was written by sisters Patty and Mildred Hill.
"Happy
Birthday to You", also known more simply as "Happy Birthday", is
a song that is traditionally sung to celebrate the anniversary of a person's
birth. According to the 1998 Guinness World Records, "Happy Birthday to
You" is the most recognized song in the English language, followed by
"For He's a Jolly Good Fellow". The song's base lyrics have been
translated into at least 18 languages.
The melody of "Happy Birthday to You" comes from the song "Good Morning to All", which has traditionally been attributed to American sisters Patty and Mildred J. Hill in 1893, although the claim that the sisters composed the tune is disputed.
Patty
Hill was a kindergarten principal in Louisville, Kentucky, developing various
teaching methods at what is now the Little Loomhouse; her sister Mildred was a
pianist and composer. The sisters used "Good Morning to All" as a
song that young children would find easy to sing. The combination of melody and
lyrics in "Happy Birthday to You" first appeared in print in 1912,
and probably existed even earlier.
None
of the early appearances of the "Happy Birthday to You" lyrics
included credits or copyright notices. The Summy Company registered a copyright
in 1935, crediting authors Preston Ware Orem and Mrs. R. R. Forman.
In
1988, Warner/Chappell Music purchased the company owning the copyright for
US$25 million, with the value of "Happy Birthday" estimated at US$5
million. Based on the 1935 copyright registration, Warner claimed that the
United States copyright will not expire until 2030, and that unauthorized
public performances of the song are illegal unless royalties are paid to
Warner.
In
one specific instance in February 2010, these royalties were said to amount to
US$700. By one estimate, the song is the highest-earning single song in
history, with estimated earnings since its creation of US$50 million. In the
European Union, the copyright of the song was set to expire no later than December
31, 2016.
The
American copyright status of "Happy Birthday to You" began to draw
more attention with the passage of the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act
in 1998. When the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Act in Eldred v. Ashcroft in
2003, Associate Justice Stephen Breyer specifically mentioned "Happy
Birthday to You" in his dissenting opinion.
American
law professor Robert Brauneis, who extensively researched the song, concluded
in 2010 that "It is almost certainly no longer under copyright." In
2013, based in large part on Brauneis's research, Good Morning to You
Productions, a company producing a documentary about "Good Morning to
All", sued Warner/Chappell for falsely claiming copyright to the song. In
September 2015, a federal judge declared that the Warner/Chappell copyright
claim was invalid, ruling that the copyright registration applied only to a
specific piano arrangement of the song, and not to its lyrics and melody. In
February 2016 Warner/Chappell settled for US $14 million, paving the way for
the song to become public domain.
No comments:
Post a Comment