If you love happiness, birthdays, and the song “Happy Birthday,” and are less of a fan of unfairly copyrighted material, this is a good week for you. That’s because federal judge George H. King has ruled that Warner/Chappell, a division of Warner Music that’s owned the rights to the happy birthday song since 1988, never really owned the rights to begin with. And that means no longer will writers, producers, directors, and anyone who loves to document their kids have to worry about shelling out as much as $10,000 for the right to use the tune.
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