Happy Birthday to You

"Happy Birthday to You," often shortened to "Happy Birthday," is an American song used to mark someone's birthday. Its basic lyrics have been translated into at least 18 languages. The tune comes from "Good Morning to All," a song usually credited to sisters Patty and Mildred J. Hill from 1893, though whether they actually wrote it is debated. The music and lyrics are in the public domain in the European Union and the United States.

Warner Chappell Music once claimed a U.S. copyright and charged licensing fees for its use, but that claim was thrown out in 2015. The following year, Warner Chappell agreed to pay back $14 million in those fees. Patty Hill, a kindergarten principal in Louisville, Kentucky, who developed teaching methods at the Little Loomhouse, and her sister Mildred, a pianist and composer, used "Good Morning to All" as a simple song for young children.

History

The combination of the "Happy Birthday to You" lyrics with that melody first showed up in print in 1912. None of the early printed versions included credits or copyright notices. In 1935, the Summy Company registered a copyright, crediting Preston Ware Orem and Mrs. R. R. Forman.

Warner/Chappell bought the company that owned that copyright in 1988 for $25 million, with the song itself valued at $5 million. Warner claimed the U.S. copyright would last until 2030 and that any public performance without paying royalties was illegal. By February 2010, a single use cost $700 in royalties. Some estimates call it the highest-earning single song ever.

The copyright expired in the European Union on January 1, 2017. The song's U.S. copyright status gained more attention after the 1998 Copyright Term Extension Act. The Supreme Court upheld that act in 2003's Eldred v. Ashcroft, with Justice Stephen Breyer mentioning "Happy Birthday to You" in his dissent.

Law professor Robert Brauneis studied the song and concluded in 2010 that it was "almost certainly no longer under copyright." In 2013, Good Morning to You Productions sued Warner/Chappell for falsely claiming copyright. A federal judge ruled in September 2015 that Warner/Chappell's claim was invalid, saying the copyright only covered a specific piano arrangement, not the lyrics and melody. In 2016, Warner/Chappell settled for $14 million, and the court declared that "Happy Birthday to You" was in the public domain.