The “Happy Birthday” song is now going to be part of the pubic domain.
The return of everyone’s favorite song about getting old to the public domain could be happening as early as next month. In a settlement filed with courts on Monday, music publisher Warner/Chappell agreed to pay $14m to end the lawsuit challenging its right to Happy Birthday To You – possibly the world’s most famous song.
Warner/Chappell bought the rights to the song for $22 million in 1988, and has since made an estimated $2m a year licensing the song for movies and TV.
Back in September, US district judge George H King ruled that Warner/Chappell did not own the lyrics to the song, just some of its musical arrangements. Next month, King will get to approve the settlement filed on Monday, making the song available to the public.
Jennifer Nelson is among the case’s plaintiffs, who was making a documentary about the song’s history when she was informed she had to pay $1,500 to use it in her film.
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