Finally, No More of Those Stupid ‘Fake’ Happy Birthday Songs in Restaurants

Uggghhh, it get on my nerves, those fake "happy birthday" songs that we were always treated to in restaurants. It's official, restaurant employees can now go back to singing the real "happy birthday to you" song, again.

Have you ever dined out on your birthday and been treated to a happy birthday song like this?

The reason we were treated to all those made up versions of the happy birthday song was copyright claims. Here's good news, a federal judge ruled this week that all the 'Happy Birthday' song copyright claims are invalid.

The L.A. Times reports that none of the companies that have collected royalties on the "Happy Birthday" song for the past 80 years held a valid copyright claim. Arguably, the "Happy Birthday" song is most popular song of all time. The evil doers here was Warner music who held the so called copyright. The L.A. times says:

Until now, Warner has asked for royalties from anyone who wanted to sing or play “Happy Birthday to You” -- with the lyrics -- as part of a profit-making enterprise. Royalties were most often collected from stage productions, television shows, movies or greeting cards. But even those who wanted to sing the song publicly as part of a business, say a restaurant owner giving out free birthday cake to patrons, technically had to pay to use the song, prompting creative renditions at chain eateries trying to avoid paying royalties."

So I guess we can go back to singing the 'real' happy birthday song which often goes more like this (WARNING: It's Bad, listen at your own risk)