Ben Sesario, New York Times, 12-4-2016: "Last year, a federal judge ruled that the long-claimed copyright to the song “Happy Birthday to You” was invalid. Now the same could happen for another iconic tune: “We Shall Overcome.”
On Tuesday, the We Shall Overcome Foundation, a nonprofit group that works with orphans and the poor, sued the music publishers who control “We Shall Overcome,” seeking a declaratory judgment that the song is not under copyright and is in the public domain.
Ludlow, the publisher, filed a copyright registration for “We Shall Overcome” in 1960, but the suit claims that this registration covers only an arrangement of the song and some additional verses. The suit cites a study by a musicologist, conducted at the request of the foundation, stating that this version of the song is essentially the same as the one published in 1948, whose copyright — if it was ever valid — would have expired in 1976.
Late last year, after a judge declared the “Happy Birthday” copyright invalid, Warner/Chappell, a division of Warner Music Group, agreed to pay $14 million to those who had paid to license the song since 1949."
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'We Shall Overcome' Copyright May Be Overcome Someday
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