Happy Birthday to Everyone!

Well hi again! It seems like it has been ageees and ages since I've blogged, but let me explain! It's not that I don't love it. It's law. And journalism. But mainly law. In the past week, I've had two law exams, which doesn't sound like much, but let me explain...one was worth 65% of my final grade. The other was worth 70%. One was open book, where as the 70% one expected us to memorise about a million...well...maybe 100 cases plus all of the elements of torts, which are things like assault, battery and negligence. So yeah...that's been my life! Another exam on Monday, but let's ignore that for now and I'll write a blog!

The world had literally gone crazy. We reached a stage a while ago, when the days when music belonged to everyone were gone. When everyone had the rights to songs, or genes that could make people better. But things are changing. Things are looking up, and people are finally realising that ownership of some things shouldn't be possible. So let's talk about the Happy Birthday song and Genes.

At the moment, a huge copyright battle is playing out in the American courts over one of the most famous songs in the world: Happy Birthday. It shouldn't be a big deal right? It's assumed public property, because we all sing it at each other's birthdays. Whether it be at school, or in your own house, Happy Birthday is always there. 

But have you noticed that they never sing it in movies? 

When I visited Warner Brothers studios in Las Angeles in 2011, our tour guide told us proudly that Warner Brothers owns the rights, and that's why movies and TV shows made by other always sing 'For He's a Jolly Good Fellow". It's so that they don't have to pay an exorbitant amount for copyright.

So at the moment, a company in the US called Good Morning to Your Productions is fighting for the right to once again make Happy Birthday public domain. And why shouldn't it be? If it can be sung in private, it definitely deserves to be sung on people's birthday on television without have to pay commission! As a law student, I'll definitely be following this court case very closely, because if the claim succeeds, this will definitely reshape a lot of today's ideals about ownership!

Next, let's talk about genes. A battle going on in the US courts for the past few months has been about ownership of the human gene. A company called Myriad claimed ownership over a gene that could they could test for breast cancer, potentially saving thousands of women. 

How is it fair for a company to claim ownership over something that every single one of us has in our bodies? The answer: It's not. And this is what the courts decided. The court ruled that though genes should not be patentable, artificially produced DNA can be. 

This is yet another step in recognising that there are some things in this world that should not have the potential to be owned. Genes are one of them, and Happy Birthday is another. One saves lives, and the other makes people happy. Both are enormously important in different ways around the world. The sooner that corporate greed reduces and people realise that, as a planet, we are really all in this together, the better things will be for everyone.

For more information, you can follow these links:
- http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-06-15/us-company-files-happy-birthday-to-you-lawsuit/4756218
- http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/13/politics/scotus-genes/index.html