Happy Birthday

Description

For years, global music publisher Warner/Chappell claimed copyright of the Happy Birthday song, demanding payment for any public performance of it. Jenn Nelson tells the story of her four-year campaign to prove that the company did not in fact own the rights to the world-famous song, whose tune was composed by two sisters in Kentucky in 1893. A judge’s decision on 30 June to approve a $14m settlement means the song is now in the public domain.