RE: Happy Birthday!

From: Stephen Fishman <sfish55[_at_]yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 9 Oct 2000 01:51:45 -0700 (PDT)

• Terry Carroll <carroll[_at_]tjc.com> wrote:

>
> I've been told (hearsay alert) that the present
> owners of "Happy Birthday
> To You" continue to claim copyright in the melody as
> well. Their theory,
> as it was represented to me, is that the division of
> the single note
> assigned to the word "good" in the phrase "good
> morning to you" into the
> two notes corresponding to the word "happy" in the
> phrase "happy birthday
> to you" was sufficient originality to merit an
> independent copyright even
> to the melody.
>
> If that's really their position, I think it's
> balderdash.
>

The original Happy Birthday tune was first publihsed in 1893. The composer, Mildred J. Hill, died in 1916, so the original tune is PD throughout the world.

The song has a complex publishing history. The melody was first published as Good Morning to All. The Happy Birthday lyric was apparently added first in 1924, without the composer's consent. No one knows who wrote this lyric. The first authorized version of Happy Birthday with the lyric was published in 1935. The copyright was renewed and is owned by the Summy-Birchard Co.

I believe you're right that Summy claims copyright in its arrangment of Happy Birthday, as well as in the lyric. I don't know on what basis this claim is made.

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