“Happy Birthday To You” is the most famous song in the world, but did you know that a publishing company actually owns it? A filmmaker is suing to change that, hoping that the beloved song sung at every birthday party around the world is put in the public domain.
Jennifer Nelson, a New York documentarian, is making a film called Happy Birthday. In order to use “Happy Birthday To You,” her production company Good Morning to You Productions had to pay Warner Music Group’s publishing arm Warner/Chappell $1,500 and sign a licensing agreement. According to her lawsuit filed in New York Thursday, her company already paid the fee and signed the agreement, but they were shocked to find out that they had to do that.
“Before I began my filmmaking career, I never thought the song was owned by anyone. I thought it belonged to everyone,” Nelson wrote in a statement, sent to the New York Times by her lawyer.
According to The Los Angeles Times, Nelson’s 26-page filing goes over the song’s history, tracing it back to an 1893 song titled “Good Morning To You” by Mildred J. Hill and Patty Smith Hill. The original lyrics were “Good morning to you / Good morning to you / Good morning dear children / Good morning to all.” Over more than a century, that has turned into “Happy Birthday To You.”
The suit estimates that Warner has made over $2 million from agreements it has forced others into signing. Nelson and her company want Warner to return those millions to the companies that have had to pay it.
Warner didn’t comment on the suit. In the meantime, make sure you contact them before you use it in your next film, just to be on the safe side.
image: Wikimedia Commons
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