Washington, D.C. – Following the ruling from a federal judge that royalties collected on the “Happy Birthday To You” song for the past 80 years were invalid, the Re:Create Coalition released the following statement:

“This ruling shows how seriously out of balance the U.S. copyright system is. For decades, creators and small businesses have been unjustly forced to pay extraordinary copyright royalties for one of the most widely known songs in the world, which dates from the 1800s. It’s unfortunate that it has taken years of litigation to establish that these royalty demands were baseless. Re:Create welcomes the decision, which underscores the need for clear and transparent copyright laws to enable all forms of creativity,” said Tina Pelkey, spokeswoman for Re:Create.