In 1935, the Summy Company credited writers Preston Ware Orem and Mrs. R.R. Forman for writing the song “Happy Birthday” and claimed copyright to it. Later, in 1990, Warner Chappell purchased Summy and therefore the copyright to “Happy Birthday” for 15 million USD. Therefore, the song “Happy Birthday” itself became eventually valued at 5 million USD. The song went on to become the most widely recognized song written in the English language.
Since it is very obscure as to who exactly wrote the lyrics to the song “Happy Birthday”, I feel it is sort of a sabotaging done by Summy firstly. The Summy company adopted the song without any retaliation from others and were able to take control of a casual song. Suppose me and my friends invented a song and somehow it became popular. If a large company claimed copyright to our song and claimed that other people wrote it, who are we to have the ability to testify against them? It might be a sort of copyright infringement.
However, I guess this only applies to large companies, like Walt Disney, who make the song a part of their business venture. Otherwise, the song rings everywhere. There is hardly a person (even in other countries) that doesn’t know this song.
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