It seems a deal has been reached with Warner over the Happy Birthday court case
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-35057667A legal dispute over copyright fees for the song Happy Birthday To You has been settled out of court.
The music company Warner/Chappell had claimed the rights to the song but earlier this year a judge ruled that the lyrics could be used without the need to pay royalties. A group of artists and filmmakers had sought to claim back the money collected by the firm over the years.
The terms of the agreement have not been revealed.
Warner/Chappell is thought to have made $2m (£1.3m) a year by charging every time the song was used in a film, television episode, advertisement or other public performance.
It acquired the copyright in 1988 but a judge ruled it was only granted for specific arrangements of the music, not the song itself. In a statement the company said: "While we respectfully disagreed with the court's decision, we are pleased to have now resolved this matter."
The lawyer for the artists, Mark Rifkin, told Reuters he was pleased with the agreement but did not give any further details.
This sort of back door deal allows the recording industry to defraud the public and I am surprised this has been settled in such an underhand way, Warner had already lost this case and where in line to refund up to tens of millions or more to those whom had paid them for the rights to use the happy birthday tune, a tune that was ruled out of copyright recently so where does this leave folks who might see a demand from warner seeking unearned revenues for a tune they do not own the copyrights to ?
Your guess is as good as mine.
