The world's most famous song had an owner

The melody was born in 1893 in a Kentucky classroom: sisters Mildred and Patty Hill wrote it as a morning greeting for their pupils, under the title Good Morning to All. Over the years, someone attached the birthday lyrics, and it became the most sung song on the planet.

Also one of the most profitable. The publisher Warner/Chappell maintained that the lyrics were still under copyright, and charged around two million dollars a year for commercial use. That's why for decades you rarely heard it in films and series: it was cheaper to invent some other little tune than to pay the licence.

In 2015, a US federal judge reviewed the case and concluded that Warner had never held valid rights to the lyrics. In 2016, after paying fourteen million dollars in refunds, the song officially entered the public domain. You can now sing it on camera. In fact, it finally comes free of charge.