The music and lyrics are in the public domain in the European Union and the United States. The copyright expired in the European Union on January 1, 2017. The complete text of "Happy Birthday to You" first appeared in print as the final four lines of Edith Goodyear Alger's poem "Roy's Birthday", published in
A Primer of Work and Play, copyrighted by
D. C. Heath in 1901, with no reference to the words being sung. The first book including "Happy Birthday" lyrics set to the tune of "Good Morning to All" that bears a date of publication is
The Elementary Worker and His Work, from 1911, but earlier references exist to a song called "Happy Birthday to You", including an article from 1901 in the
Inland Educator and Indiana School Journal. In 1924, Robert Coleman included "Good Morning to All" in a songbook with the birthday lyrics as a second verse. Coleman also published "Happy Birthday" in
The American Hymnal in 1933. ''Children's Praise and Worship'' published the song in 1928, edited by Byers, Byrum, and Koglin. The Summy Company, publisher of "Good Morning to All", copyrighted piano arrangements by
Preston Ware Orem and a second verse by Mrs. R. R. Forman. This served as the legal basis for the claim that Summy Company legally registered the copyright for the song, as well as the later renewal of these copyrights. Summy Company became the Summy–Birchard Company in 1957, and this became a division of Birch Tree Group Limited in 1970. Warner/Chappell Music acquired Birch Tree Group Limited in 1988 for 25 million. Warner/Chappell claimed copyright for every use in film, television, radio, and anywhere open to the public, and for any group where a substantial number of those in attendance were not family or friends of the performer. Brauneis cited problems with the song's authorship and the notice and renewal of the copyright, and concluded: "It is almost certainly no longer under copyright."
2013 lawsuit On June 13, 2013, documentary filmmaker
Jennifer Nelson filed a putative
class action suit in federal court for the
Southern District of New York against Warner/Chappell in the name of her production company Good Morning to You Productions. A week later,
Rupa Marya v. Warner Chappell Music Inc was filed in the Central District of California. Five weeks later, Nelson refiled the case there, and the cases were combined. In April 2014, Warner's motion to dismiss had been denied without prejudice, and discovery began under an agreed plan with respect to Claim One, declaratory judgment as to whether "Happy Birthday to You" was in the public domain. The court was expected to rule on the motion for summary judgment as to the merits issues on Claim One. A jury trial was requested. Nelson's attorneys Betsy Manifold and Mark Rifkin presented new evidence on July 28, 2015, one day before a scheduled ruling, which they argued was conclusive proof that the song was in the public domain, "thus making it unnecessary for the Court to decide the scope or validity of the disputed copyrights, much less whether Patty Hill abandoned any copyright she may have had to the lyrics". They had been given access to documents previously held back from them by Warner/Chappell, which included a copy of the 15th edition of
The Everyday Song Book published in 1927. The book contained "Good Morning and Happy Birthday", but the copy was blurry, obscuring a line of text below the title. Manifold and Rifkin located a clearer copy of an edition published in 1922 that also contained the "Happy Birthday" lyrics. The previously obscured line was revealed to be the credit "Special permission through courtesy of The Clayton F Summy Co." Manifold and Rifkin argued that the music and lyrics were published without a valid copyright notice as was required at the time, so "Happy Birthday" was in the public domain. Warner/Chappell disputed the evidence, arguing that, unless there was "necessary authorization from the copyright owner", the "Happy Birthday" lyrics and sheet music would still be subject to
common law copyright as an unpublished work, and that it was unknown whether the "special permission" from the Summy Company covered "Good Morning to All", "Happy Birthday", or both, thus alleging that the publication in
The Everyday Song Book was unauthorized. The company also argued that it was not acting in bad faith in withholding the evidence of the 1927 publication. On September 22, 2015, federal judge
George H. King ruled that the Warner/Chappell copyright claim over the lyrics was invalid. The 1935 copyright held by Warner/Chappell applied only to a specific piano arrangement of the song, not the lyrics or melody. The court held that the question of whether the 1922 and 1927 publications were authorized, thus placing the song in the public domain, presented questions of fact that would need to be resolved at trial. but the decision did not go so far, holding only that Warner/Chappell did not prove they owned the copyright. the plaintiffs suggested that the song was
de facto in the public domain. Before the lawsuit, Warner/Chappell had been earning $2 million a year licensing the song for commercial use, in order to safely distribute the film. On February 8, 2016, Warner/Chappell agreed to pay a settlement of $14 million to those who had licensed the song, and would allow a final judgment declaring the song to be in the public domain, with a final hearing scheduled in March 2016. On June 28, 2016, the final settlement was officially granted and the court declared that the song was in the public domain. In the wake of their success, the lawyers involved in the "Happy Birthday" lawsuit filed similar lawsuits regarding "
We Shall Overcome" and "
This Land Is Your Land". ==Public performances==