[karajorma]

Crappy lawsuit to you.
Crappy lawsuit to you.
Crappy lawsuit Time Warner.
Crappy lawsuit to you.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/06/filmmaker-picks-a-copyright-fight-with-happy-birthday/

Filmmakers and TV producers have long been harassed by Warner/Chappell Music, a subsidiary of Time Warner that enforces the copyright on "Happy Birthday," probably the most popular song in the world. If that song pops up in any TV show or movie, the creators are sure to get a hefty bill. The makers of the critically acclaimed 1994 documentary Hoop Dreams had to pay $5,000 for a scene of one of the protagonists' families singing the song. By 1996, Warner/Chappell was pulling in more than $2 million per year from licensing.

Now there's a new documentary about the song, and of course, the filmmakers had to pay the fee for a "synchronization license"—it was $1,500.

But it sure didn't sit well with them. Yesterday, Good Morning To You, the company that made the documentary, filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to prove once and for all that the copyright on "Happy Birthday" is long dead. The lyrics are extremely similar to an 1893 song called "Good Morning to All," published in a book called Song Stories for the Kindergarten. The lawsuit contains numerous other early examples that predate the official claimed "Happy Birthday" copyright registration date of 1935.

The idea that the "Happy Birthday" copyright is bogus isn't new. A heavily researched 2010 legal paper out of George Washington University found that the song "is almost certainly no longer under copyright, due to a lack of evidence about who wrote the words; defective copyright notice; and a failure to file a proper renewal application." In his dissent in Eldred v. Ashcroft, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer cited the song when he denounced endless copyright extensions, noting that it is based on an 1893 melody.

The lawsuit seeks class-action status; the filmmakers are hoping that everyone who has paid illegitimate license fees for singing "Happy Birthday" from June 13, 2009 until present will get a check from Time Warner.

“Before I began my filmmaking career, I never thought the song was owned by anyone," Jennifer Nelson, the filmmaker who made the movie, told The New York Times. "I thought it belonged to everyone.” Nelson is featured in this morning's edition of the NYT, holding a 1924 songbook called "Harvest Hymns," which includes the Happy Birthday song.

Advocates for copyright reform have resented the Happy Birthday copyright for some time now and are looking forward to its being challenged. "This is gonna be great," writes Cory Doctorow at BoingBoing. The full lawsuit is available at Techdirt.

Let's hope they lose this one.

[FUBAR-BDHR]

What's not it there is the fact they are hitting people up for around $150k a pop when they don't have the license.  Apparently they even hit up the Vatican for singing it to the pope.   I think that one was around (I'm not going to look up how to make that strange fraking L)131k.

[rubixcube]

I wouldn't worry, any reasonable judge would never let them win this case

[An4ximandros]

The lira? (₤)

 Anyway, It might be interesting how this turns out.

[haloboy100]

It'd be nice to finally let this stupid claim die.

[StarSlayer]

The prospect of never overhearing a wait staff have to sing some silly alternate version at resteraunt again warms the cockles of my cold black heart.

[Luis Dias]

I wouldn't worry, any reasonable judge would never let them win this case

Nice to know this song's usage by the entire world rests on the reasnonableness of a single human being I know nothing about.

[karajorma]

Nice to know this song's usage by the entire world (except China who don't give a single ****) rests on the reasnonableness of a single human being I know nothing about.

Fixed that for you.

Seriously though, I hear the song all the time here, in both English and Chinese. It's kinda nice to not have to put up with the workarounds people have had to come up with to get around this.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

Once in a while, I hear it in Malay too.

[Luis Dias]

Oh you misunderstand me. We sing it every single day here (as long there's a birthday, of course). We couldn't care less about the case, were it not the suspicion that this copyright stuff will get nastier and nastier in western states, with all the pressure from the USA and other copyright fanatics.

[Flak]

One reason I don't like greedy copyright fanatics. Make you feel much less guility 'pirating' from them and watching the internet troll them to hell and back.

[Dragon]

Yeah, exactly. I even have my own "black list" of companies that deserve to be stolen from for screwing with their legitimate customers and fans. And it's not getting any smaller.

[Luis Dias]

I'm way less moralistic about pirating, I think that kind of vision really diminishes piracy and is just a way to fool yourself (I'm stealing but they deserve it). When I do it, I usually do it because I have no money. But I try not to and I never feel ok about it.

[Scotty]

Yeah, exactly. I even have my own "black list" of companies that deserve to be stolen from for screwing with their legitimate customers and fans. And it's not getting any smaller.

I just wanna say that this is an absolutely terrible thing.  Stealing, by its very definition, is wrong.  There are, of course, extenuating circumstances that can excuse that wrong, but "These guys pissed me off" is most assuredly not one of them.

The fact that you're apparently proud of having such a list is even worse.

[Flipside]

It's kind of like the '5 Gold Rings' line from the 12 days of Christmas, strictly speaking it's copyright violation if you extend the word 'Gold' as everyone does.

Edit: I won't say anything about the Piracy comment, since other people seem to have covered it.

[Luis Dias]

Yeah, but your comment basically nails why I sometimes just feel enraged and with the will to just pirate EVERYTHING and then notice how not one single person was harmed in this criminal event. Then I calm myself down and just utter a "da world is just a stupid thing" and move on.

[Flipside]

I suppose my take on the matter is a thing called 'Civil Disobedience'. This usually happens when a really silly or ambiguous law is passed and people go out in their thousands and deliberately break it just to prove how silly the law is. As far as traditional songs like Happy Birthday or 12 Days of Christmas are concerned, I consider singing it an act of Civil Disobedience and to be encouraged.

[Flak]

There it goes, pirating is bad, and imagine it is a 'Kick The Dog' act. Then there is this, which they call 'Kick The Son of A B****'. By all means, it is an evil act all the same, however, it just fall flat because the victim sort of had it coming.

[BloodEagle]

Yeah, exactly. I even have my own "black list" of companies that deserve to be stolen from for screwing with their legitimate customers and fans. And it's not getting any smaller.

I just wanna say that this is an absolutely terrible thing.  Stealing, by its very definition, is wrong.  There are, of course, extenuating circumstances that can excuse that wrong, but "These guys pissed me off" is most assuredly not one of them.

The fact that you're apparently proud of having such a list is even worse.

Yup, stealing / theft sure is wrong.  I don't think anyone can actually defend a statement otherwise.

Good thing copyright infringement isn't stealing / theft, eh?

::EDIT:: Ha hah! ... timing.

[SypheDMar]

Nice to know this song's usage by the entire world (except China who don't give a single ****) rests on the reasnonableness of a single human being I know nothing about.

Fixed that for you.

Seriously though, I hear the song all the time here, in both English and Chinese. It's kinda nice to not have to put up with the workarounds people have had to come up with to get around this.

TVB.

While I would say that stealing/pirating is bad, I can't say that singing Happy Birthday is stealing or pirating, even before the lawsuit. I'd also believe that just because something is illegal doesn't necessarily make it wrong, like the case of singing Happy Birthday prior to this lawsuit. Likewise, suing people for singing Happy Birthday, even if perfectly legal, is wrong to me. I know that's not what was being discussed, but I want to mention that anyway.