‘Happy Birthday’ song legal dispute ends with before trial with settlement

The copyright case over the song “Happy Birthday To You” is over, just a few days before it was going to head to trial. Music publisher Warner/Chappell and the filmmakers suing to use it have reached a settlement.

The long history of “Happy Birthday To You” was first dragged into the public eye in 2013, when documentary filmmaker Jennifer Nelson and her team were surprised to learn that Warner claimed to own the copyright. Nelson, who was trying to make a film about the song, would have had to pay to license the song.

However, in September, a federal judge in Los Angeles ruled that Warner did not own a copyright and that the song was in the public domain.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Judge George H. King of the Central District of California wrote on Wednesday that the case had been settled. No settlement was disclosed, but a source told the Times that there will be no more appeals.

“While we respectfully disagreed with the court’s decision, we are pleased to have now resolved this matter,” a spokesman for Warner said.

Warner claimed that it had owned the copyright to “Happy Birthday To You” since 1988, when it acquired Birch Tree Music, the successor of another publisher that had previously claimed to have the copyright. The song was written in 1893 by Patty Smith Hill and her sister, Mildred J. Hill.

WordPress › Error

There has been a critical error on your website.

Learn more about debugging in WordPress.