

Lawsuit Filed to Prove Happy Birthday Is in the Public Domain (2013) - mpweiher
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/11165823451/filmmaker-finally-aims-to-get-court-to-admit-that-happy-birthday-is-public-domain.shtml

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dbbolton
What disturbs me somewhat about this copyright, besides its age and that is
contrary to the basic underlying ideas of copyright, is the fact that the
people who originally registered it did not compose the song, and the people
who ostensibly did compose it did so as a derivative work (they changed the
lyrics, which in a song of 7 words isn't a very substantial creative
contribution). It probably never should have been copyrightable in the first
place.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Birthday_to_You](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Birthday_to_You)

~~~
bediger4000
And yet millions of dollars of steady revenue derive from this copyright. It
just goes to show you that Copyright Works! No, wait, it goes to show you that
copyright protects incumbents, and probably doesn't really encourage
innovation. It certainly doesn't increase the public domain, as currently
constituted.

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libria
Someone w/ legal chops enlighten me: Is it possible to reverse all past
decisions in one fell swoop? I thought each defendant had to appeal
individually.

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Natsu
What past decisions? I'm not sure this has been litigated before and it's a
class action lawsuit.

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dctoedt
Let me go way out on a limb here </sarcasm> and predict that after the usual
preliminary fencing by the lawyers -- which could take months longer -- this
lawsuit will settle on terms that include a payment of generous attorneys'
fees to the plaintiffs' lawyers by Warner/Chappell Music.

That's because this is a class-action lawsuit (filed a year ago). The
complaint was signed by a lawyer whose Web site announces that he
"concentrates his practice in entertainment and consumer litigation" [1]. The
other signatory law firm bills itself as "one of the most prominent class
action firms in the world." [2]

Last October the judge granted Warner/Chappell Music's motion to stay some of
the peripheral aspects of the lawsuit. [3]

[1] [http://www.randallnewman.net/lawsuit-seeks-declaration-
that-...](http://www.randallnewman.net/lawsuit-seeks-declaration-that-happy-
birthday-belongs-to-everyone/)

[2]
[http://www.whafh.com/modules/practice_area/index.php?action=...](http://www.whafh.com/modules/practice_area/index.php?action=view&id=19)

[3] [http://www.law360.com/articles/481852/warner-wins-stay-of-
so...](http://www.law360.com/articles/481852/warner-wins-stay-of-some-claims-
in-happy-birthday-suit)

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herf
An amazing thing about this case is Google Book Search. 20 years ago the
research in this case would have taken a team months & months to do.

Today, anyone at all can do it in 60 seconds:
[https://www.google.com/search?q=%22Happy+Birthday+To+You%22&...](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22Happy+Birthday+To+You%22&biw=1161&bih=733&source=lnt&tbs=cdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3A1%2F1%2F1900%2Ccd_max%3A1%2F1%2F1935&tbm=bks)

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Mithaldu
Will a success here mean that Warner/Chapell would be liable for
damages/punishment for all the past abuse?

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dang
This is a repost of
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5878417](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5878417).

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jahewson
It's a class action lawsuit, so no need for each plaintiff to file their own
case. The filing requests the return of license fees which were wrongfully
collected due to the copyright being invalid. Presumably it will need to be
shown that the invalid filing was deliberate, the issue being whether or not
Warner believed they owned the rights in good faith.

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moss
This article is from a year ago and change. Have there been any recent
developments? I've seen the link going around lately, but I can't tell whether
it's because there's news or just because it happens to be going around again.

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raverbashing
Big companies are always in favor of Copyright violation when it benefits
them.

And this is not only for getting payed for songs in the public domain, but
actually releasing albums without due compensation.

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coder23
Mods please merge with this:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8092875](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8092875)

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wglb
Requests to the moderator are more likely to be seen if you email to
hn@ycombinator.com with your request.

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kumarharsh
who the ____was paying for this? This is ridiculous...

~~~
Karunamon
The fact that Happy Birthday was copyrighted, or the fact that someone is
suing to get it thrown out?

