[twas]

Happy Birthday is actually a copyrighted song.

They can't get everyone for singing it at parties but they do insist on payments when it appears in a movie.

[supercat]

Happy Birthday is actually a copyrighted song.

I wish someone would challenge it in court. The following song, sung with the current "happy birthday" tune [save for the lack of subdivision on the first word of each line] was published long enough ago to be out of copyright:

Good morning to you
Good morning to you
Good morning dear children
Good morning to all

Perhaps substituting "happy birthday" for "good morning" justifies a new copyright, but I would tend to doubt it.

[latina4dubya]

Happy Birthday is actually a copyrighted song. They can't get everyone for singing it at parties but they do insist on payments when it appears in a movie.

and isn't that why restaurants began singing their own birthday songs?

[EdHallick]

I heard about that. Is that unreal or what? I also heard the melody is from an old German folk song, but even if it isn`t, you can tell the thing is over 200 years old just by listening to formal waltz music from the 1700`s. But noooooooo, just because some idiot claims he or she wrote it, and I bet you that copyright claim was made in the early 1900`s, let`s give the next 9 gazillion generations of his family money if you want to sell Happy birthday stuff that plays it.