“To me there is a big difference between playing "Happy Birthday" in a restaurant and a theater screening "Gone With The Wind".”
No difference at all, legally. Both works are intellectual property,
protected by copyright.“Playing "Happy Birthday" in a restaurant it more like quoting "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." from "Gone With The Wind".”
Margaret Mitchell might disagree. There is quite a bit of 'difference' between singing a song in a restaurant and writing an epic novel.
“I would not confuse playing a song that has become part of our common heritage with recording it or reproducing another recording of it. There is a big difference so that comparison is neither logical nor valid.”
Granted. There is a difference between performing a song and recording it. Nonetheless, both activities are
protected by copyright.
“Don't get me wrong, I respect the right of the copyright holder to profit from his or her work.”
It doesn't appear that you do.
“If I were to find a cure for cancer, I'd have less than 20 years protection. This tells me that 12 bar blues song with juvenile lyrics is more important to protect than a cure for cancer.”
There are reasons that medical patents are so limited, most having to do with saving lives. Apples and oranges.
Once again, without the songwriter,
there would be no music business, and you would have nothing to sing in restaurants.
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