SA lawyers sue Disney for copy infringement of "lion song"

Struggling family to sue Disney in song row

A poor South African family is taking United States entertainment giant Disney to court for unpaid royalties from the hit song The Lion Sleeps Tonight, originally a Zulu tune composed by their late father, lawyers said on Friday.

The executor of the estate of Solomon Linda, who died with less than R200 in his bank account in 1962, will on behalf of his family claim $1,6-million (almost R8-million) in damages against Disney in a complaint to be filed in a South African court next week.

Disney is targeted as the "most active user" of the song, said copyright lawyer Owen Dean.

"They are using his music in the Lion King musical, which is running to full houses all over the world while Linda's daughters work as domestic servants, live in shacks and struggle to feed their families," Dean told reporters in Johannesburg.

Linda was a Zulu migrant worker and entertainer who composed the song Mbube (lion) in Johannesburg in 1939 and recorded it with a singing group called the Evening Birds.

Mbube was an instant hit and would later become one of the most famous melodies from Africa.

Folk singer Pete Seeger came across the song in New York in 1949, and in his autobiography relates how he transcribed it "note for note" and called it Wimoweh from the Zulu "uyiMbube" which means "he is a lion".

In 1961, the Tokens recorded the song and added the English lyrics starting with "in the jungle, the mighty jungle".

Since then, the song has been recorded by more than 150 different artists and features in at least 15 movies and stage musicals. It has been translated into several languages including French, Japanese, Danish and Spanish.

But Linda and his family received scant financial reward for his original composure, mainly from the South African music company Gallo and a "trickle of royalties" from the United States in the 1970s, amounting to about $15 000.

The claim against Disney is not close to the estimated $15-million earned in composure royalties over the decades, but lawyers hope that it would serve as a test case for future negotiations with other parties.

SA lawyers sue Disney for lion song rights
July 02, 2004, 14:27


South African lawyers are suing US entertainment giant Walt Disney Co for infringement of copyright on The Lion Sleeps Tonight, the most popular song to emerge from Africa, the lawyers said today. If Disney loses, South African proceeds from its trademarks - including Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck - could be seized by the courts, lawyers representing relatives of the song's composer said.

The lilting song, initially called Mbube, earned an estimated $15 million in royalties since it was written by Solomon Linda, a Zulu migrant worker, in 1939, and featured in Walt Disney's Lion King movies. However, Linda's impoverished family have only received about $15 000, the lawyers said. Disney executives in South Africa were not immediately available for comment. Linda sold the worldwide copyright for Mbube to a local firm, but under British laws in effect at the time, those rights should have reverted to his heirs 25 years after his death in 1962, Owen Dean, the copyright lawyer, said.

This means Linda's surviving three daughters and 10 grandchildren were entitled to a share of royalties from the song, which has since been recorded by at least 150 musicians. "We are claiming R10 million ($1.6 million) in damages from Disney at the moment," Dean told reporters. "The court attached use of Disney trademarks in South Africa to the case last week. We believe our legal position is very sound."

Court to issue summons next week
The court will issue a summons to Walt Disney in Los Angeles early next week. If the case is successful, legal action may also be launched against Disney and other companies in the United Kingdom or Australia, where British copyright laws would have applied, Dean added. It would also have widespread implications for other South African musicians, authors and artists who may have sold their rights without being aware of their entitlements.

"The family are entitled to royalties. There has also been a misappropriation of South African culture - the song is thought to be American," Dean said. Zathele Madonsela (16), Linda's grandson, told reporters the case was very important for his family, who live in poverty in the Johannesburg township of Soweto. "Life is difficult, we are really struggling," he said.

Executors of the family's estate are also seeking a further R6 million damages from three local companies who have benefited from income either from the Lion King films or the song. The Mbube song was adapted by Pete Seeger, a US folk singer, who called it Wimoweh as he misheard its Zulu lyrics. George David Weiss, a US songwriter, rewrote the song as The Lion Sleeps Tonight.