I believe it was Warner Brothers who held the copyright but it had been disputed whether they actually owned the rights. But it’s one of those situations where taking them to court to find out was going to cost a lot more than paying the license.
WB didn’t have to prove they owned it to get people to pay. They only needed to show that they held the copyright to it and the history of other people paying did the rest. Sort of like paying protection to a local mob.
So when WB finally got sued and they had to show receipts, the judge decided against them and we got something in the public domain.
So it’s a bit more complicated than that.
I believe it was Warner Brothers who held the copyright but it had been disputed whether they actually owned the rights. But it’s one of those situations where taking them to court to find out was going to cost a lot more than paying the license.
WB didn’t have to prove they owned it to get people to pay. They only needed to show that they held the copyright to it and the history of other people paying did the rest. Sort of like paying protection to a local mob.
So when WB finally got sued and they had to show receipts, the judge decided against them and we got something in the public domain.
A good write up here: https://time.com/3976577/happy-birthday-copyright-history/
I don’t feel like reading atm, can I get a link to a LegalEagle vid about it?
You joke, but he actually did: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
Can we go back to that? I hate birthdays.