I didn't mean say that the song wasn't copyrighted, I meant to say that it shouldn't be under copyright. Sorry about that! blush

The Snopes article (written in 2007) says:

  • The sisters wrote "Good Morning To You".
  • They didn't write the lyrics "Happy Birthday To You".
  • The song - with the "Happy Birthday" lyrics - was published.
  • After it became popular, a company claimed copyright to the song.


Even Snopes says that it is "murky", because no one knows who put the words to the Hill's song.

The Salon article (written in 2011) goes into further detail on this.

Since the melody is in public domain at this point, and the company claimed copyright on the song that there's clear published evidence that they didn't write, they never should have been granted copyright to the song. That's clear from Snopes as well.

As the Salon article points out, the only reason that the copyright continues to stand is because it's cheaper to pay the licensing than to contest it.

Last edited by dcuny; 06/07/14 01:56 AM. Reason: I kant spel
-- David Cuny
My virtual singer development blog

Vocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?