That's true. I wasn't meaning to argue that this would apply anywhere else, but Happy Birthday is a place where it clearly applies. It would only be a problem i

That's true. I wasn't meaning to argue that this would apply anywhere else, but Happy Birthday is a place where it clearly applies. It would only be a problem if some court ruled that the song wasn't public domain or available for fair use, since it is clear that it should be. This is somewhat related to something else about business that people often seem to forget: Many people talk about businesses as though they are machines for converting employees time to products that they can sell for profit. But companies also produce culture, and that culture will be exported whether it's paid for or not. And they have a responsibility to produce good culture.