Who owns the song Happy Birthday?

The song "Happy Birthday", with his poorly fitting texts and anesthetic simple melody, is actually the ownership of the subsidiary of the media conglomeration known as AOL Time Warner. The way the song was as common as it ended up in the hands of a multinational media group is almost as interesting as the origin of the song itself. Mildred and Patty Hill were influential in the early childhood world and their greeting song was eventually published in the collection of songs of kindergartens. At that time, however, there were no texts that actually contained the words "happy birthday". Several Motion Pictures used a song without attributing composers, which forced the third sister named Jessica Hill to demand a legal compensation. Jessica Hill also founded her sisters as a copyright owner.

This is where the ownership rights "happy birthday" will become moving himstink. Jessica Hill collaborated with the music publishing company Clayton F. Summy to first issue a song as copyright in 1935 and attribute the lyrics of Preston Ware Orem, Summy employees. Originally the copyright owned by Hill Sisters would take two consecutive 28 years. Modern changes in copyright, however, have added several additional decades of protection, so the work was on private property until at least 2030.

ownership chain for "happy birthday" begins with Jessica Hill and Clayton F. Summy Company. Entrepreneur based in New York obtained a company and renamed Birch Tree Ltd., a subsidiary Warner Communications, Warner Chapppell, eventually bought Birch Tree Ltd. At the end of the 90's and renamed IT Summy-Birchard Music. Time-Warner merged with AOL internet giant and created Time Warner AOL.

Although any commercial production that uses this song must pay license fees or get a license from ASCAP noBo Harry Fox Agency, individuals can still sing it in the privacy of their homes. Technically, the bars and restaurants without Ascap licenses cannot allow employees to perform "happy birthday" for customers, and therefore many of these places create their own birthday songs as compensation.