Top Plaintiffs' Verdict by Impact: Good Morning to You Productions Corp. v. Warner/Chappell Music Inc.

Copyright infringement

Central District of California

Chief Judge George H. King

Plaintiffs' lawyers: Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLP, Mark C. Rifkin, Janine Pollack, Beth A. Landes, Giti Baghban, Francis M. Gregorek, Betsy C. Manifold, Rachele R. Richert, Marisa C. Livesay; Randall S. Newman PC, Randall S. Newman; Donahue, Gallagher, Woods LLP, William R. Hill, Andrew S. MacKay, Daniel J. Schacht; Glancy, Binkow & Goldberg LLP, Lionel Z. Glancy, Marc L. Godino, Kara M. Wolke

Defense lawyers: Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, Kelly M. Klaus, Glenn D. Pomerantz, Adam I. Kaplan

The company claiming to hold the lucrative, upbeat, omnipresent "Happy Birthday to You" song copyright, Warner/Chappell Music Inc., was likely singing a different tune after plaintiffs persuaded a Los Angeles federal judge in September to grant summary judgment on their claim the ubiquitous ditty is effectively in the public domain.

"Happy Birthday" may be the most-sung lyric and the best-recognized song in the English language, according to Guinness World Records. Marilyn Monroe sang it to President John F. Kennedy. Millions have sung it to other millions. The question was whether anyone owned it.

The entertainment industry has paid to use the song in films and television shows. Restaurants have grappled for alternative celebratory anthems to fete customers without incurring licensing fees.

Warner/Chappell agreed to pay $14 million to settle the case last week.

"We look forward to starting the next phase of the litigation," said the plaintiffs' lead lawyer, Mark C. Rifkin of Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Hertz LLP, "in which we will ask the court to order Warner/Chappell to return money to everyone who has paid fees under the bogus copyright claim."

Rifkin said that early damages estimates, based on the $2 million per year that Warner/Chappell is believed to have reaped from license fees, could be up to $60 million plus interest.

In a bench decision, Chief U.S. District Judge George H. King of the Central District reached back to the song's origin in 1893 as a tune named "Good Morning to All." The Happy Birthday lyrics evidently originated in print in an education journal in 1901.

Basing his ruling on research by Rifkin for lead plaintiff Rupa Marya, the judge held that though little is known of the original authors' subsequent arrangements, something of the work's lineage was described in pleadings filed in a 1942 lawsuit over transfer of rights to a piano arrangement of the song.

Marya sued in 2013 to declare the copyright invalid after Warner/Chappell sought to license the right to use the song in film and music projects. Good Morning to You Productions Corp. v. Warner/Chappell Music Inc., 13-CV4460 (C.D. Cal., filed June 21, 2013).

King distinguished the lyrics from the piano music, shooting down a key defense claim.

"Obviously, pianos do not sing," he wrote. "Thus, it is not logical to infer that rights to 'piano arrangements' would include rights to any lyrics or words as well."

The judge concluded that defendants failed to protect the lyrics to the birthday song. Although Warner/Chappell might have a claim to the melody and piano arrangements, it never owned any rights to the lyrics, the judge ruled.

King's decision cried out for the light journalistic touch, and got it. "Court blows out candles on 'Happy Birthday' copyright," as one outlet put it. "Unchained Melody," another reported.

"We are delighted that Judge King [has found the defendant] owned only limited copyrights that covered two old piano arrangements, and not a copyright to the world famous 'Happy Birthday' song itself," Rifkin said.

- John Roemer