Filmmakers fighting “Happy Birthday” copyright find their “smoking gun”
> even if the work had been published in 1922 with proper notice, and even if that copyright had been renewed in 1949 (which the plaintiffs say it wasn't), the song still would have become public domain at midnight on December 31, 1997.<p>75 years of copyright protection is ridiculous; imho, this should have been 10 or maybe 15 years.