Bob, at 09:26 on May 27 1995, you wrote to Bill Grimsley...

BG> Oi, I have never said that! What I did say (and still believe
BG> to be true) is that the words and music to the song "Happy
BG> Birthday" had been copyrighted by two old (English?) ladies,
BG> but I still don't know whether it had ever been subject to
BG> copyright prior to their doing so. If it's that important to
BG> you, feel free to give APRA a call and check it out yourself. 

BL> You can't copyright something you didn't create.

Yeah, that's what I thought too.

BL> The basis of copyright is originality; not whether copyright has been 
BL> claimed previously.

I really should look into this.  I mentioned it some months ago, but never
followed it through.  I do know that there was a bit of a stink about these
two old cows demanding royalties from movies and TV shows where that song
had been sung though.  Got a bit of publicity too, but I don't remember
much about it.

BL> Otherwise, I could copyright the words "I" and
"Oi" in which case you owe 
BL> me for the use of three I's in the para above and one Oi.

As a bit of a pirat^H^H^H^H^Hevaluation-type of person, you can go and fuck
yourself now if you like.  |-)

Regards, Bill
@EOT:

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