The popular song “Happy Birthday (to you)” has been the focus of copyright bickering for a while.
If you sang it at parties during the past 27 years, you were supposedly infringing on that copyright.
The good news: it’s now officially in the public domain, and Music publisher Warner/Chappell Music agreed to end its claim of ownership and refund $14 million dollars, ending the long-running dispute over royalty rights to the song.
Meanwhile, domain investor Mike Mann who owns the domain HappyBirthday.com won’t let it go without a fair amount being paid.
According to Mann’s domain selling outfit, DomainMarket, he wants $1,999,888 dollars for the domain.
Whoah!
That’s not even $2 million bucks, so if you’re a rich prince in an oil-rich country, that’s a real bargain for your very own “happy birthday.” 😉
HappyBirthday.com
