Happy Birthday Was Under Copyright Until 2016

The world's most recognized English-language song didn't actually start with the words "Happy Birthday." Its origins trace back to 1893 and a tune called "Good Morning to All," written by sisters Mildred and Patty Hill for Patty's kindergarten class in Kentucky. The simple, easy-to-sing melody was a classroom hit. At some point over the next couple of decades, the familiar birthday-themed lyrics were set to the Hills' melody, though the exact author of those new words remains a historical mystery.

In 1935, the Summy Company, a publisher that had worked with the Hill sisters, registered a copyright for the song. This copyright was eventually acquired by Warner/Chappell Music, which began rigorously enforcing it. For decades, any public performance of the song—in a movie, on a TV show, or even sung by staff in a restaurant chain—technically required a licensing fee. This enforcement made "Happy Birthday to You" one of the highest-earning songs in history, pulling in millions of dollars for its corporate owner.

This lucrative practice finally came to an end after a filmmaker, who was making a documentary about the song, filed a lawsuit in 2013 challenging the copyright's validity. During the legal battle, researchers uncovered that the 1935 copyright registration only covered a specific piano arrangement of the melody, not the famous lyrics. In 2015, a federal judge declared the copyright claim on the lyrics invalid, and a final settlement in 2016 officially released the song into the public domain, making it free for everyone, everywhere, to sing.