The “Happy Birthday” Song is now Public Domain

After a lengthy lawsuit and court battle, the “Happy Birthday” song is now yours.

A federal judge has declared that the publishing company that has been raking in close to $2 million a year on the little ditty does not hold a valid copyright to the tune.

U.S. District Judge George H. King says the copyright first filed by the Clayton F. Summy Company in 1935 only applied to specific arrangements of the song and not the lyrics.

Warner/Chappell Music bought the rights to the copyright for $25 million back in 1988.

The lawsuit over the copyright began when a filmmaker working on the song for a movie found evidence that the song actually belongs in the public domain.

The song was written in 1893 by Patty Smith Hill, a Kentucky kindergarten teacher and her sister Mildred.