> From: John Howell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > It was written by a couple of American sisters and published in (I > think) the 1890s with the text, "Good morning to you," etc. So the > melody and those words are public domain. The Happy Birthday text > was published in the 1930s, and is still under copyright (assuming > that it was properly renewed in its 28th year).
> Royalties are due to the estates of those sisters, whose names I've seen but > can't for the life of me remember. Mildred and Patty Hill As for copyright, here's what the history page I referenced earlier <http://www.attachemag.com/archives/01-02/story2/story2.htm> has to say about the copyright to HBTY: ---- The following year [ED. NOTE: referring to 1934] , the Clayton F. Summy Company, a Chicago-based music publisher, joined ASCAP and, representing the sisters, copyrighted the song‹the music and the words. According to the New York Times, "Because the copyright was registered by the company, not the sisters, the song is considered a Śwork for hire,ą and thus under current law is entitled to copyright protection for 75 years." With the new laws enacted in 1998, the protection will actually last until 2030. ---- And how much ARE those royalties? According to another note on the page, about $2 million per year. RH _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
