<p>Did you know <em>Happy Birthday</em> is copyrighted and the copyright is
currently owned and actively enforced by Time Warner?</p>
-<p>Did you know that if you sing a copyrighted song:<br />
+<p>Did you know that if you sing any copyrighted song:<br />
...at a place open to the public<br />
-
...or among a substantial number of people who are not family or friends<br />
-
You are involved in a public performance of that work?</p>
-<p>Did you know an unauthorized public performances is
+<p>Did you know an unauthorized public performance is a form of
<em>copyright infringement?</em>?</p>
</div>
<p><em>Yes</em>.</p>
-<p>The melody for <em>Happy Birthday</em> was first penned by two sisters
-from Kentucky involved in teaching and education: Mildred J. Hill and
-Patty Smith Hill. The song was called <em>Good Morning to All</em> but
-bore the recognizable melody. The tune was first published in 1893 in
-the book <em>Song Stories for the Kindergarten</em>. The tune, being
-older, is in the public domain. You should be alright humming.</p>
+<p>The melody for <em>Happy Birthday</em> was first penned by two
+sisters from Kentucky: Mildred J. Hill and Patty Smith Hill. The song
+was called <em>Good Morning to All</em> but bore the recognizable
+melody. The tune was first published in 1893 in the book <em>Song
+Stories for the Kindergarten</em>. The tune has since past into the
+public domain and is safe to hum in public without permission.</p>
<p>While it is not entirely clear who first wrote down the words for
<em>Happy Birthday</em>, it showed up in a few places before Jessica
Hill (another Hill sister) was able to demonstrate undeniable
similarities between <em>Good Morning to All</em> and <em>Happy
-Birthday</em> and to secure the copyright of <em>Happy Birthday To
-You</em>.</p>
+Birthday</em> and to secure the copyright to the song.</p>
<p>Working with the Clayton F. Summy Publishing Company, Jessica Hill
published and copyrighted "Happy Birthday" in 1935. While the
copyright should have expired in 1991, copyright has been extended
-repeatedly over the last quarter of the twentieth century and
-<em>Happy Birthday</em> is not due to expire until at least 2030.</p>
+repeatedly over the last quarter of the twentieth century and the
+copyright for <em>Happy Birthday</em> is now not due to expire until
+at least 2030.</p>
-<p>The Clayton F. Summy Company is no more but, through a chain of
-purchase, the copyright lies securely in the hands of Time
-Warner. <em>Happy Birthday's</em> copyright is enforced by <a
-href="http://www.ascap.com/">ASCAP</a> and the little ditty brings in
-more than $2 million USD in annual royalties.</p>
+<p>The Clayton F. Summy Company is now long gone but, through a chain
+of purchases, the copyright for <em>Happy Birthday To You</em> lies
+securely in the hands of the Time Warner company. <em>Happy
+Birthday's</em> copyright is enforced by <a
+href="http://www.ascap.com/">ASCAP</a> and the simple little ditty
+brings in more than USD $2 million in annual royalties.</p>
<p>For more information on the history of the tune, lyrics, and
copyright status check out these resources:</p>
-<p>There area number of good resources for information on happy
-birthday on the web. This include:</p>
-
<ul>
-<li><a href="http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/birthday.htm">This Snopes
-article on the legal status of Happy Birthday</a></li>
+<li><a href="http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/birthday.htm">Snopes'
+article on the legal status of <em>Happy Birthday</em></a></li>
-<li><a href="http://www.boycott-riaa.com/article/15999">This article
-on Boycott-RIAA on Happy Birthday and copyright</a></li>
+<li><a href="http://www.boycott-riaa.com/article/15999">Boycott-RIAA's
+article on <em>Happy Birthday</em> and copyright</a></li>
-<li><a href="http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2003/7/5/112441/6280">A
-Kuro5hin article on some of the history of Happy Birthday that you
-might not hear.</a></li>
+<li><a
+href="http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2003/7/5/112441/6280">Kuro5hin's
+article on parts of the history of <em>Happy Birthday</em> that you might not
+hear.</a></li>
</ul>
-
-<h2>Is Singing <em>Happy Birthday</em> in Public Really Copyright Infringement</h2>
+<h2>Is Singing <em>Happy Birthday</em> in Public Really Copyright
+Infringement</h2>
<p><em>Yes</em>.</p>
-<p>According to
(the United States copyright law in <a
+<p>According to United States copyright law in <a
href="http://assembler.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode17/usc_sec_17_00000106----000-.html">Title
-17 §106</a>, authors of works have the <em>exclusive</em> right, among
-
many other things, "to perform the copyrighted work publicly." In <a
+17 §106</a>, authors of works have the <em>exclusive</em> right "to
+perform the copyrighted work publicly." In <a
href="http://assembler.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode17/usc_sec_17_00000101----000-.html">Title
-17 §101</a>, the law defines publicly performing a work as to "to
-perform or display it at a place open to the public or at any place
-where a substantial number of persons outside of a normal circle of a
-family and its social acquaintances is gathered.</p>
+17 §101</a>, the law defines publicly performing a work as "to perform
+or display it at a place open to the public or at any place where a
+substantial number of persons outside of a normal circle of a family
+and its social acquaintances is gathered."</p>
-<p>Basically, this means that if you sing happy birthday to to your
-sister at home, you're probably all right. But if you do it in an
-restaurant, and if the restaurant hasn't paid up to Warner or to
-ASCAP, you may very well be engaging in copyright infringement.</p>
+<p>This means that if you sing happy birthday to your family at home,
+you're probably not committing copyright infringment. However, if you
+do it in an restaurant — and if the restaurant hasn't already worked
+out a deal with ASCAP — you may be engaging in <em>copyright
+infringement</em>.</p>
<h2>How Can I Help Stop Infringement?</h2>
-<p>The best way to stop infringement is to tell the
-authorities. Licenses for <em>Happy Birthday</em> are controlled by
-ASCAP.</p>
+<p>The best way to stop infringement is to tell the authorities and
+the owners so that they can follow up and arrange for a license and
+for royalties to be paid. Licenses for <em>Happy Birthday</em> are
+controlled by ASCAP. While for a single restaurant performance,
+monetary royalties will be negligable, it is the principle that is at
+stake.</p>
+
+<p>If you have seen someone singing happy birthday in a restaurant, a
+park, or at a school, you should tell ASCAP so that they can arrange
+for a license. If you are an offender, you should apologize and offer
+to pay whatever is due — a nickel, a quarter, a dollar —
+whatever ASCAP demands.</p>
-<p>If you have seen someone signing happy birthday in a restaurant, a
-park, or at a school, you should tell ASCAP. If you were the offender,
-you should apologize and offer to pay whatever is due — a
-nickel, a quarter, a dollar. There is an overwhelming amount copyright
-infringement pertaining to <em>Happy Birthday</em>. </em>Let's set the
-balance right and <em>overwhelm</em> ASCAP with reports.</p>
+<p>There is an overwhelming amount copyright infringement of <em>Happy
+Birthday</em>. </em> Let's right the balance and tell ASCAP about
+every one of them!</p>
<p>There are many ways to get in contact with ASCAP:</p>
1-800-505-4052</p>
</blockquote>
-<p>It would also be a good idea to keep Warner Brother's in the
-loop. Here's their information:</p>
+<p>It would also be a good idea to keep the song's owner —
+Time Warner — in the loop. Here is their contact
+information:</p>
<blockquote>
</blockquote>
-<p>If you're going send a message, here's a sample message although
-you'll want to modify yours to include information to include correct
-details on the infringement:</p>
+<p>If you're going send a message, here's a sample message. You'll
+want to modify yours to include information to include correct details
+on the infringement:</p>
<blockquote>
<pre>Dear ASCAP,
The copyrighted status of "Happy Birthday To You" and and the law
related to public performances of copyrighted works have recently been
-brought to my attention. I am very concerned by the disregard for the
-law shown by the rampant infringement relating to this "Happy Birthday
-To You."
+brought to my attention. I am very concerned by the public's apparent
+disregard for copyright law demonstrated by rampant infringement of
+"Happy Birthday To You."
-It is with this in mind that I wish to bring your attention an
-unauthorized performance:
+It is with this in mind that I wish to bring to your attention a
+recent unauthorized performance:
-->> WHEN (e.g., December 10, 2004)
-->> WHERE (e.g., at the Vol De Nuit at 148 West 4th Street in New York
-->> WHO (e.g., a group of patrons and the barstaff)
-I hope that you are able to quickly follow through on this and to
-enforce your copyright and extract the necessary royalties from the
-offenders.
+I hope that you are able to quickly follow up on this and to enforce
+your copyright and extract the necessary royalties and licenses from
+the offenders.
-It is because of your lax and selective enforcement of the copyright
-in this work that most people don't even realize that the song is
-copyrighted. You might see very different behavior from people if they
-knew.
+It is, in part, because of your lax and selective enforcement of your
+copyright that most people do not realize that "Happy Birthday To You"
+is even copyrighted at all.
In the event that you choose to continue selective enforcement of
"Happy Birthday To You", for whatever reason, please considering
-lobbying Congress to change the laws to reflect the way that most
-people actually interact with copyright works such as this.
+asking Congress to change copyright law to reflect the way that most
+people view and interact with copyrighted works such as "Happy
+Birthday."
Regards,
-->> YOUR NAME
society — particularly in relation to the song <em>Happy
Birthday</em>.</p>
-<p>You can support us in a number of ways including by buying
-overpriced tat in the <a
+<p>You can support us by buying overpriced tat in the <a
href="http://www.cafepress.com/unhappybirthday">official Unhappy
Birthday store</a>.</p>
-<p>Get in contact with our leadership by emailing our copyrighteous
-
spokesman, Benjamin Mako Hill, at <a
+<p>You can get in contact with our leadership by emailing our
+
copyrighteous spokesman — Benjamin Mako Hill — at <a
href="mailto:mako@atdot.cc">mako@atdot.cc</a> </p>
</div>
projects / unhappybirthday / blobdiff