Who Wrote the Happy Birthday Song
The melody and lyrics of Happy Birthday originated from the song Good Morning to All, composed by Patty Hill and Mildred J. Hill in 1893. The Hill sisters were American educators and songwriters from Kentucky who created the tune for kindergarten greeting. The birthday-specific lyrics evolved later through widespread public use, with no single individual credited as the sole lyricist. Today, the song is recognized globally as a standard birthday greeting, and its authorship is consistently attributed to the Hill sisters in copyright records and music databases Forbes.
Which Company Owns Happy Birthday Now
Warner Chappell Music, a division of Warner Music Group, held the copyright and licensing rights to Happy Birthday for decades, claiming the song was protected until 2030. In 2016, a U.S. federal court ruling in the case Good Morning to You Productions Corp. v. Warner Chappell Music declared the original copyright claim invalid and returned the song to the public domain. Since then, Warner Chappell has continued to manage music publishing for other works, but Happy Birthday itself is now freely usable without licensing fees SEC filings.
Key Legal Milestones and Current Status
1935 Copyright and Later Disputes
The first formal copyright registration tied to the birthday lyrics was filed in 1935 by the Clayton F. Summy Company, which later became part of larger music publishing groups. This registration covered specific arrangements and editions but did not claim ownership of the underlying melody, which remained in the public domain. Over the following decades, multiple companies asserted rights, leading to decades of licensing fees collected for commercial use of the song.
2016 Court Ruling and Public Domain
The 2016 court decision concluded that the 1935 copyright applied only to a specific piano arrangement and not to the song's lyrics or melody. As a result, Happy Birthday entered the public domain, meaning anyone can perform, record, and use the song without seeking permission or paying royalties. This ruling is cited in copyright law discussions and music industry analyses as a landmark case for public domain works Forbes and is referenced in legal databases SEC.