Happy Birthday Trademark

I read a few stories coming out of Asia claiming that the Fufeng toy plant in China had received registered trademarks for the term "Happy Birthday." According to the articles, which appear to be just re-printed press releases:

The words “Happy Birthday” can no longer be legally used if they are pinned to any other product, as a private Chinese company has claimed to have registered them as its trademark in 25 countries, including the US, Japan and European Union members this month.

I read this and thought, "WOW! They must have a huge trademark registration!" Trademarks cover classes of goods and services. Thus you can have a mark in class 9 (which include abacuses and automatic nozzles) and have the same mark in class 42 for computer consultation services. The goods and services are considered different enough that consumers can tell the difference.

So, the company claims that no product can use the term "Happy Birthday," that means this company has registered trademarks covering all classes of goods and services. So I checked the USPTO website. Guess what? I couldn't find any trademarks for "Happy Birthday" that either covered every class, or was registered to a Chinese company. I did find 65 applications and registrations, including a few which drew my interest:

1- HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!, U.S. Trademark No. 2869279, was registered on August 3, 2004. This trademark was first used in September 2002, and covers direct mail advertising.

2- HAPPY BIRTHDAY, U.S. Trademark No. 2783736, was registered on November 18, 2003. This trademark was first used in August of 1996, and covers cupcakes

3- HAPPY BIRTHDAY, U.S. Trademark No. 2692628, was registered on March 4, 2003. This trademark was first used in August of 1987. The owner of this mark is Jody Fine Korman, of Virginia Beach, VA. This registered trademark is still valid.

4- HAPPY BIRTHDAY, U.S. Trademark No. 2790862, was registered on December 9, 2003. This trademark was first used in August of 2001, and covers perfume, cologne, and cosemetics.

5- HAPPY BIRTHDAY, U.S. Trademark No. 2634966, was registered on October 15, 2002. This trademark was first used in July of 2000, and covers grape juice.

6- HAPPY BIRTHDAY, U.S. Trademark No. 1046919, was registered on August 24, 1976. This trademark was first used in November of 1975.

I could go on, but there are others, including purses & bags for Cartier, and others. I'm not really sure if this Chinese company is even telling the truth about having filed for any trademarks. If they have at least filed in the US, I should be able to see their application on the USPTO's site. I cannot find even a registration, so I think they're full of it.

Even if they did have a trademark regisrtration, it would have to be so broad as to cover every single product- we're talking tens of thousands of dollars in filing fees just to start. People would still be able to say Happy Birthday, and be able to send Happy Birthday cards as well. I think this company is trying to scare competitors from making signs and bunting and the like. By the way, the song Happy Birthday is indeed covered by copyright, and commercial use of the song requires the payment of royalties. It's OK to sing it in a non-commercial setting without having to pay royalties.

A note to those papers in Asia: you should do a really brief amount of research before publishing a press release. A five minute check would have shown that this press release is wrong at least for the US, and is likely wrong in the other countries as well.