Happy-Birthday on It's a Binary World 2.0 https://www.ericsbinaryworld.com/tags/happy-birthday/ Recent content in Happy-Birthday on It's a Binary World 2.0 Hugo en Wed, 02 Oct 2013 04:01:25 +0000 Happy Lawsuit To You https://www.ericsbinaryworld.com/2013/10/02/happy-lawsuit-to-you/ Wed, 02 Oct 2013 04:01:25 +0000 https://www.ericsbinaryworld.com/2013/10/02/happy-lawsuit-to-you/ <p>I first heard about the copyright on <em>Happy Birthday To You</em> when watching Aaron Sorkin&rsquo;s <em><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0165961/">Sport&rsquo;s Night</a></em>:</p> <p><a href="http://youtu.be/OP9U">http://youtu.be/OP9U</a>_mslaWU</p> <p>(BTW - I don&rsquo;t remember that show having a laugh track. Quite jarring)</p> <p>I felt just as incredulous as that guy. Still, even the most obvious things, like zippers, have to come from someone&rsquo;s brain. I didn&rsquo;t think about it again for years. Until this June when <a href="http://boingboing.net/2013/06/13/lawsuit-happy-birthday-is.html">Boing Boing</a>, <a href="http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/06/filmmaker-picks-a-copyright-fight-with-happy-birthday/">Ars</a>, and <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/06/17/192676099/this-one-page-could-end-the-copyright-war-over-happy-birthday?ft=1&amp;f=93559255">NPR</a> covered the story that a film maker is suing the copyright holders. He just made a whole documentary about Happy Birthday and so he has a pretty good handle on exactly where it came from. Turns out he believes it should not be in copyright. So he&rsquo;s suing Time Warner for collecting copyright fees on something it shouldn&rsquo;t hold the copyright on. Supposedly it makes Time-Warner $2 million a year so they could end up with a HUGE bill if the film maker can turn it into a class action lawsuit. However, considering how much money Time-Warner would be liable for, you can be certain they&rsquo;ll bring their best lawyers to play. It should be a pretty interesting fight.</p>

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