Is This a Great Country or What?
There’s hardly a more “generic” song in America than “Happy Birthday to You,” but to this day (until a judge renders a decision in a pending case), Warner/Chappel Music is still trying to make big dollars off of the 16-word ditty (15 original words plus a user-supplied 16th). Its original copyright should have expired, at the latest, in 1921, but amendments to the law and technicalities in interpretation (e.g., did the copyright cover all public uses or just piano arrangements?) bring Warner at least $2 million a year in copyright protection fees. A federal judge in California is expected to rule soon on whether the song is in fact uncopyrightably “generic”—almost 125 years after the Hill sisters (Mildred and Patty) composed it.
Ironies
■ “The ancient art of yoga is supposed to offer a path to inner peace,” wrote the Wall Street Journal in February before launching into a report on how many yoga classes these days are so crowded that inner peace-seekers are more likely than ever either to seethe throughout their session or openly confront floor-hoggers. Explained one coach, “People who are practicing yoga want Zen; they don’t already have it.”
■ Readers’ Choice: Low voter turnout in non-presidential election years is increasingly problematic in easily distracted Los Angeles, but the issue was specifically addressed by campaigners in the March 3 city council elections—which, of course, only about 9% of registered voters cast ballots in.
Suspicions Confirmed
■ In New York City, someone can be fired for being “too nice.” Doorman Ralph Body, 41, was dismissed from his job at an upscale New York City apartment building because he did too many favors for tenants, according to an April New York Post report. Body said he “gave his life” to the residents at the “27 on 27th” tower in Queens, but “upper management” thought such extra kindnesses violated building policy and ordered his dismissal despite a tenant petition.
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■ When the chief auditor for Hartford, Conn., finally got around to checking the finances of the police shooting range recently, he found that the range supervisor had bought 485,000 rounds per year for the past six years, but was using only 180,000 per year—and had no paperwork on where the other bullets went. (In one instance, the supervisor acknowledged having bought 94,500 rounds of .45-caliber ammo two years after the department had stopped using .45s and switched to .40-caliber weapons—but his story was that he needed .45-caliber bullets so he could trade them for .40s.)
New World Order
■ Millions of sports fans “draft” their own fantasy sports teams—even the bass-fishing tournament circuit has its fantasy league, where fans select anglers good at exploiting choice spots on the lakes. In March, Alaska Dispatch News reported that, for the fourth straight year, there would be an Iditarod Fantasy League, with a “salary cap” of “$27,000” to pick seven mushers with the best chances to push their dogs to victory, with all-stars going for around $6,000 and promising rookies selling for much less.
Fine Points of the Law
■ John Deere became the most recent company in America to claim that, though a buyer may have paid in full for a device, he may not actually “own” it. Deere claims that because its tractors run on sophisticated computer programs, the ostensible owner of the tractor cannot “tamper” with that software without Deere’s permission—even to repair a defect or to customize its operation. Already, traditional movie videos may come with restrictions on copying, but the Deere case, according to an April report on wired.com, might extend the principle to machinery not traditionally subject to copyright law.
Cultural Diversity
■ A March arranged-marriage ceremony in Kanpur, India, was about to start when cousins of the bride (whose name is Lovely, daughter of Mohar Singh) commandeered center stage and demanded that groom Ram Baran answer the question, “What is 15 plus 6?” Baran answered, “17,” and in short order, Lovely and her family began to drift out of the room, and the marriage was off. Eventually, according to a Times of India report, the families settled the fiasco amicably, with all gifts returned.
COPYRIGHT 2015 CHUCK SHEPHERD
