A New York-based filmmaker has filed a lawsuit challenging the copyrights of the world's famous song, "Happy Birthday to You" and aims to make it free for public use.
Good Morning To You Productions Corp. is making a documentary about the famous birthday song,"Happy Birthday to You" and has filed a lawsuit Thursday arguing the song be made available to the public with no copyrights.
The company says the song belongs to the public and should be in the public domain, reports the New York Times. The lawsuit was filed after filmmaker, Jennifer Nelson, the owner of Good Morning Productions, was asked to pay $1,500 for a license to use the song. Warner/Chappell Music Inc., the publishing arm of Warner Music Group, reportedly owns the copyrights of the song and charges licensing fees for the song's reproduction, distribution and public performances.
The lawsuit filed in New York says that the song was "just a public adaptation" of an original song by sisters Mildred J. Hill and Patty Smith Hill, "Good Morning to All" in 1893, which later evolved into "Happy Birthday to You."
"It's a song created by the public, it belongs to the public, and it needs to go back to the public," one of Ms. Nelson's lawyers, Mark C. Rifkin, told New York Times in a telephone interview.
The class action lawsuit not only challenges the copyrights of the song but also aims to return millions of dollars that was collected as licensing fees from Warner/Chappell to thousands of people and groups. According to Rifkin, Warner/Chappell collects nearly $2 million every year as licensing fees for the song.
Warner/Chappell bought Birchtree Ltd., a small company that owned the famous birthday song, for $25 million in 1988.
Nelson's documentary film titled "Happy Birthday" shows the history of the world-famous song and its future.
