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The Lion Sues Tonight

In “Digital Democracy”, the course I help Charlie Nesson teach at HLS, we talk a great deal about folklore, indigeous knowledge and intellectual property rights. A thought experiment that came up in last year’s class: “What if an African nation sought compensation from Disney for their use of folktales in their film, ‘The Lion King’?”

Well, the details are a little different, but it looks like we might just get an answer. The family of South African composer Solomon Linda has filed a claim in South African court against Disney, seeking 1.3m euros in damage for Disney’s use of the song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” in “The Lion King”.

The song was originally recorded by Linda in 1939 as “Mbube” – Zulu for “the lion”. The song became a major hit in England, selling more than 100,000 copies before 1948. Folklorist Alan Lomax introduced the song to Pete Seeger, who misheard “uyiMbube” (”he is a lion”) as “Wimoweh”. Mistranscription aside, Seeger tried to do the right thing, crediting Linda as the author of the song and sending him a check for $1000. Unfortunately, the other 150 people who recorded the song – most with lyrics written by George David Weiss – were not as generous, and Linda died almost penniless in 1962.

Lawyer Owen Dean, who is representing the Linda family, says that Solomon Linda sold the rights to a local firm, but that the ownership of the song should have reverted to his heirs 25 years after his death, or 1987. Mbube has generated over $15m in royalties, but less than $15,000 of that money has made it to the Linda family.

The South African court has agreed to hear the case and has awarded the attachement of 200 Disney trademarks registered in South Africa. If the Linda family wins the case, the trademarks could be sold to settle the claim. A victory would also open possible suits in other nations where British copyright laws would have applied.

Given Disney’s muscular defense of copyright term extension to protect its precious animated mouse, it will be interesting to see whether they do the right thing and promptly settle this claim. I’m not holding my breath… but I’m looking forward to watching.