SING "Happy Birthday" at a private party in America, and you probably won't be prosecuted. But if an organised group such as the Girl Scouts wants to put the song into a collection to sing around the campfire, or if a filmmaker wishes to show people singing the song in a movie, the situation is very different. They must pay hundreds of dollars in licensing fees to Warner/Chappell Music, a division of Warner Music Group that enforces a copyright for the song's composition and lyrics, or risk a lawsuit that could result in penalties of $150,000 for each violation. Warner/Chappell is said to collect $2m per year in royalties for the tune. Now a filmmaker, Jennifer Nelson, wants to make a movie, called "Happy Birthday", about the history of the song. She says she paid Warner/Chappell $1,500, under threat of litigation, for the right to include a performance of the song in her movie. She then filed a lawsuit (for which she is seeking class-action status) against the company, claiming that the rights to the song expired nearly a century ago. Why are the rights to "Happy Birthday" in dispute?
