When was 'Happy Birthday to You' first published?

Under US copyright law, you are not infringing ANY non-dramatic song if you sing it in public, assuming you're not being paid to perform and the audience is not paying to hear it (or any profits from the audience goes to charity). 17 USC § 110(4). There are many other exemptions, which are (by definition) not infringing.

The alleged owners of the alleged copyright of The Happy Birthday Song have NEVER litigated the questionable basis upon which they claim legitimacy, not to mention their rightful ownership. There are law professors and litigation professionals who agree that there are serious questions to be examined.

The required copyright notice was probably defective when published without the authors' names. The required registration/renewal were probably defective for similar reasons. The original authors' attorney even admitted the copyright "probably lapsed in 1949". Time-Warner (or the current "owners") don't want anybody to know this so they don't have to actually sue anyone (which they never have) and have their entire ownership fail in a courtroom drama.

At the very least, it is quite clear that the melody was stolen from works published in the 1850s, and published by others prior to 1923, making it public domain in the USA.

The melody and lyrics were written by two sisters - Mildred J. Hill (born 1859) and Patty Smith Hill (born 1868). Patty was a schoolteacher who developed the "Patty Hill blocks" and was a faculty member at Columbia University Teachers College. Mildred was also an educator who later on became a composer, organist and pianist. The melody was composed by Mildred and the lyrics were written by Patty, but it was originally for a classroom greeting song titled "Good Morning to All." The song "Good Morning to All" was part of the book Song Stories for the Kindergarten which the sisters co-wrote and published in 1893.

From then on the lyrics were changed from its original form to "Good Morning to You" and then to "Happy Birthday to You." It is still unclear who changed the lyrics that turned it into a birthday song, but it was first published in 1924 on a book edited by Robert H. Coleman. Since then, the song became popular and in 1934, Jessica Hill, another Hill sister, filed a lawsuit because of the unauthorized use of the "Happy Birthday to You" melody which clearly resembles the melody of "Good Morning to All," the song her sisters originally wrote. In 1935, Jessica, who was working with publisher Clayton F. Summy Company, copyrighted and published "Happy Birthday."

In the 1930s the Clayton F. Summy Company was bought by John F. Sengstack and renamed it Birch Tree Ltd. In 1998, Birch Tree Ltd was in turn bought by Warner Chappell for $25 million. The company is now known as Summy-Birchard Music. It is reported that the birthday song brings in about $2 million a year in royalties with half going to Summy-Birchard and the other half to the Hill Foundation.

We all are. We're supposed to pay royalties whenever we play it or sing it in public. It was first copyrighted in 1935, one of the big companies (maybe Warner) bought the rights recently.

i would go with shorties answer :)