As an intellectual property creator, I’m supposed to be highly enthusiastic about copyright. The problem is – certainly in my layman’s view – the laws on this stuff are just bizarre beyond all reason.  I’m doing more editing, which is a thing, but a couple of my pro beta readers (read: in “The Industry”) have said that a bit in my book needs to go. See, one character sings the happy birthday song to another.  I’m thinking, “This is pretty safe.  People have been having birthdays since before time.” It’s again fortunate that my friends look out for me, as this is a great exanple of how un-safe things really are.  Turns out: Warner own the copyright for that song, and gain revenues from its use. Well, what if you only use a bit of the song?  Like the first line Read More …