News in passing: Singing the Happy Birthday song probably not a copyright infringement after all

Warner Music Group reportedly receives around USD 5,000.00 a day in license income for this reason alone. However, the song has now been found in a songbook from 1922 without a copyright notice. A US court case is therefore now arguing that the song must be in the public domain. The court case has not yet been concluded. In Germany, the legal situation is likely to be clarified more quickly, as even GEMA assumes that protection under the German Copyright Act only exists until the end of 2016.