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Your wish is granted

Interestingly enough, while the lyrics are copyrighted, you can hum the tune all you want, copyright-free, since the tune itself has fallen out of copyright.

Michael Jackson's Estate owns Happy Birthday

In that case, someone needs to tell Snopes about it:

Who does own the publishing rights to "Happy Birthday to You"? They were acquired by a New York accountant named John F. Sengstack when he bought the Clayton F. Summy Company in the 1930s; Sengstack eventually relocated the company to New Jersey and renamed it Birch Tree Ltd. in the 1970s. Warner Chappell (a Warner Communications division), the largest music publisher in the world, purchased Birch Tree Ltd. in late 1998 for a reported sale price of $25 million; the company then became Summy-Birchard Music, now a part of the giant AOL Time Warner media conglomerate.

A bit of Google-fu turned up an apparent grassroots protest website on the subject. A bit on the strident side, it seems to me, but they have an interesting idea: turn in every violation.

If you have seen someone singing Happy Birthday in a restaurant, a park, or at a school, you should tell ASCAP so that they can arrange for a license. If you are an offender, you should apologize and offer to pay whatever is due -- a nickel, a quarter, a dollar -- whatever ASCAP demands.

There is an overwhelming amount of copyright infringement of Happy Birthday. Let's right the balance and tell ASCAP about every one of these violations!

I guess the idea is to overwhelm ASCAP and the Time Warner, and to highlight inconsistent enforcement as a reason to drop the whole stupid copyright fight over this song.

As a 'public performance' just means singing Happy Birthday to your friends in public...

Then, what should I do if I'm an aspiring musician, and I'd like to draw on some of my cultural heritage -- and yes, copyright lasts so insanely long that we are talking about cultural heritage here -- and these thugs come and sue me?

In other words: What do we do about The Grey Album?

For that matter, as part of my "boycott", should I stop singing Happy Birthday?

Fuck no. I will not spend my life avoiding our culture because it happens to be owned by a few corporations. I will continue to assert that this is our culture, not theirs.

Isn't that song out of copyright now? There are vocal and musical tracts which can be still copyrighted but isn't the Happy Birthday song long out of copyright?

No, still in copyright.

Remember just how long copyright lasts. Just because something was written in the 19th century do not assume it is out of copyright in the 21st.

"Hippy Bathday to Gnu" might be better, or at least 'gnu' sounds less similar that 'ewe', if you pronounce the hard G. The 'a' rather than 'y' can be difficult to differentiate.

http://www.unhappybirthday.com/ also has information.

I still like that line in MiB.
It is one of the most insightful lines in a movie, and even real life.
That might be the reason I friended you.

This distinction doesn't matter to many Slashdotters, but for background it's important to understand that the RIAA and ASCAP/BMI are often at odds with each other. Generally speaking, if you're a "little guy" composer or songwriter, ASCAP/BMI are your friends, and the RIAA is not.

The enemy of my enemy is not my friend.

If I am a composer whose works are performed or recorded by others, ASCAP protects my interests. If I am anybody else, then ASCAP protects the interests of composers from me. ASCAP is just as likely to be attacking me as they are to be attacking the RIAA. For example, let us say that I run a restaurant. In that case, ASCAP are the people who prevent me from allowing my employees to sing the "Happy Birthday" song, or virtually any other song for that matter. If I am a small-time composer or musician whose works are not performed by others, ASCAP are the people whom I live in fear of in case I have the temerity to perform a song I did not write under the very wide umbrella of what constitutes a "public performance".

I am not familiar enough with Canadian CRIA to comment on them specifically.

If you think that anybody fighting for their rights -- whether they're a big media conglomerate, or a poet making $50 a year

Wait, stop right there. "Intellectual property" owners have no rights. They have privileges. Copyrights are granted by the government, which means they are not rights. Real rights cannot be granted by anyone, because something which can be granted can be taken away. Since copyrights are priviliges and not rights, the populace have the authority to direct the government they theoretically control to limit or remove the priviliges that those copyright holders enjoy.

Nope, there is always something else. How about humming that tune? Hmm? Hmm? You know that's costing them 5^22453536.1$ every year. Evil hummers... that's OUR tune!

Oh, think that they wouldn't do that, eh? You're not cynical enough yet.

Your comment is funny and true (and I'll get to why in a moment), but the poster does have a serious point. For example, the song 'Happy Birthday' is under copyright:

http://www.unhappybirthday.com/

Just the fact that it is (technically) a breach of copyright to sing 'Happy Birthday' in public is... ming boggling! Of course, under the US Code, you can sing such copyrighted songs in private with family and friends, but it seems crazy that something so much a part of our culture is under copyright... or maybe not, maybe it reflects our culture better than any music ever could.

Sadly, that's probably true.

Turn him in

See you in court.

--Time Warner

They don't think of their son or daughter sitting in a dorm room at college downloading mp3s.

They also don't think of their office parties or visiting relatives at nursing homes as infringing activities, but they are the same type of crime.

That song is copyrighted by law. Please email Time Warner with all your personal details and "Copyright infringement" on the subject.

Why not? After all, they demand royalties from people who sing "Happy Birthday" in a restaurant.

http://www.unhappybirthday.com/

Make sure you don't sing Happy Birthday in public
http://www.unhappybirthday.com/

I know a good voice coach if you're really that worried.

The issue is not (only) that he's a bad singer, the issue is that the "Happy Birthday Song" is copyrighted. If he were to sing it we would have to cut a cheque to Time Warner.