“Happy Birthday” Finally Slogs to an End

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Exciting news! The trial over the copyright to “Happy Birthday” has been canceled and all parties have signed on to a settlement. This might mean that commercial use of the century-old song will finally be allowed royalty-free.

Then again, it might not. It’s possible that the copyright will simply be transferred to a different owner. We’ll find out when the settlement is made public.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And the essential ingredient that makes all this possible? Readers like you.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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