Happy Birthday Song Enters Public Domain

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Warner Music Group and others who fought to hold the copyright on “Happy Birthday to You” – listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most recognized song in the English language – have given up their claims to the song.

That’s according to the terms of a proposed settlement deal signaling the end of a contentious three-year dispute, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.

A hearing on the preliminary approval of the settlement is scheduled for March 14 at a downtown Los Angeles courtroom.

If U.S. District Judge George H. King signs off on the settlement putting the song in the public domain, then Warner/Chappell Music Inc., Warmer’s music publishing division in Santa Monica, for example, would no longer collect fees to use the song, which by some estimates brought the company as much as $2 million per year in royalties.

The proposed deal, disclosed Monday in court filings, offers up to $14 million for those who paid licensing fees for use the song as far back as 1949.

The lawsuit was originally filed in 2013 by a group of filmmakers who believed the ubiquitous song should be in the public domain.

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