On today’s podcast, Public Knowledge’s VP of Legal Affairs and resident copyright expert Sherwin Siy breaks down a big week in copyright reform! Sherwin discusses three major court decisions on copyright–involving a dancing baby, the Happy Birthday song, and the Batmobile–and talks about why the monkey selfie debate is back in the news. Click here to download the podcast. Subscribe…

I’ve been thinking about #FanWorksTaughtMe for the past month and I’ve mostly been feeling overwhelmed: fan works are at the very center of my identity as an artist and as an activist. In 2003, my brother and I started a band called Harry and the Potters: just a couple young wizards using the Harry Potter books as source material for…

  Earlier this week, Judge George H. King of the Central District of California closed the books on Warner/Chappell Music’s claim to own the copyright in “Happy Birthday to You” – a work dubbed “the world’s most popular song.” In a 43 page ruling that was equal parts advanced civil procedure and object lesson in interpreting archival records, Judge King…

In the Marya v. Warner/Chappel Music dispute over the copyright status of the song “Happy Birthday,” the District Court for the Central District of California found in its September 22, 2015 opinion that Warner does not hold a valid copyright over the lyrics. The ruling went through the history of publication of the melody and lyrics to “Happy Birthday,” which uses the same…

  Earlier this week, Public Knowledge and 15 other global civil society groups sent a letter to the officials of the various governments that will meet and finalize the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) provisions next week, urging them to rewrite parts of the trade agreement’s current intellectual property chapter. This is Public Knowledge’s latest effort to warn governments and the public…

A Copyright Birthday Gift: Iconic “Happy Birthday” Song Freed From Hefty Licensing Fees. Re:Create has been bringing you updates on the “Happy Birthday To You” song copyright case, and this week a federal judge ruled that royalties collected on the song for the past 80 years are invalid. In the New York Post’s September 23 story, Everyone can now sing…

  Yesterday, the district court in Marya v. Warner/Chappell Music, Inc. invalidated one of the most famous, longest lasting, and controversial rights claims in music: Warner/Chappell’s ownership of the copyright in the universally known song Happy Birthday to You. The following can be attributed to Raza Panjwani, Policy Counsel at Public Knowledge: “The district court’s decision finding that Warner/Chappell Music…

U.S. Court Of Appeals Rules In Favor Of Fair Use, Re:Create Coalition Members Support EFF Victory. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit sided with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Stephanie Lenz and fair use in a significant September 14 ruling in the “dancing baby” case, Lenz v. Universal. The court ruled copyright holders must consider fair…

Save the date!  The annual Fair Use Week, a celebration of the important doctrines of fair use and fair dealing, will take place from February 22-26, 2016. What is Fair Use Week? Each day teachers teach, students learn, researchers advance knowledge, and consumers access copyrighted information due to copyright limitations and exceptions such as fair use or fair dealing.  Fair use…

  On Monday, the 9th U.S. Circuit of Appeals held that, yes, you can be sued if you tell an online host to remove content that was a fair use. The case, Lenz v. Universal, stemmed from the notorious “dancing baby” takedown, in which Universal Music sent a takedown notice to YouTube because Stephanie Lenz uploaded a home video of…