“Warner/Chappell has built a licensing empire based on ‘Happy Birthday,’ which in 1996 was pulling in more than $2 million per year. [..] An important line of text published underneath the song’s lyrics was ‘blurred almost beyond legibility’ in the copy that Warner/Chappell handed over in discovery. Plaintiffs’ lawyers note that it’s ‘the only line of the entire PDF that is blurred in that manner.’  Plaintiffs acquired their own copies of the songbook, including a first edition published in 1916, which didn’t have the song, and versions published 1922 and later, which include it without a copyright notice.”

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2015/07/filmmakers-fighting-happy-birthday-copyright-find-their-smoking-gun/

Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin

Donate via Installed Wallet Copy