For decades, Warner/Chappell Music
claimed to own the rights to the Happy Birthday song, despite the reams
of copyright scholarship and historical research showing they had no
legitimate claim.
Still, businesses paid Warner millions as an alternative to costly
litigation. Finally, a documentary film about Warner's ridiculous
claims, sued and won.
Now Warner/Chappell has settled a claim brought by many of the companies
that had paid it for a license over the years and years that they were
running their fraud. The music publisher will pay $14 million in
penalties and fees.
After the judge’s ruling, Warner and the filmmakers reached a settlement
deal that would finally put the song back into the public domain where
it belongs (even though Warner still contends it does not) and provide
some measure of financial redress for people who were improperly charged
for its use.
In a Feb. 8 court filing [PDF], Warner has agreed to set up a fund that will pay out claims totaling up to $14 million.
Of that amount, a maximum of $6.25 million is earmarked for claimants
who paid to use the birthday song after mid-June 2009. The remainder of
the money will be used to cover claims going back all the way to 1949.
Claimants in either group should expect to only recoup a fraction of
what they paid to Warner and the various other publishers of the song
over the years. As usually happens in a class action, the named
plaintiffs will likely receive more. In this case, they are asking for
between $10,000 and $15,000.
But if the settlement is approved, it’s the lawyers who will come out
with a real birthday gift on this one. The lawyers for the plaintiffs
are seeking $4.6 million from Warner to cover their costs of the case.
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