July 2004
The Sleeping Lion Awakes
The decision by the Pretoria High Court of South Africa allowing the impoverished heirs of Solomon Linda, the Zulu migrant worker who composed The Lion Sleeps Tonight, to take legal action against Disney over royalties owed can be expected to have widespread repercussions across the international copyright industry. This landmark legal action is founded on an arcane piece of colonial era copyright found in the British Copyright Act 1911. The relevant provision provides that all rights to a song revert to the composer's estate twenty-five years after their death. Under this Imperial copyright law the rights to the song should have been returned to Linda in 1987 and royalties from the song should have been paid to his estate for the last seventeen years.
Briffa Comment:
The Linda's case if ruled in favour of the family may set a new precedent by which following cases are to be judged. This could potentially open the floodgates of proceedings against music companies as well as others who have placed themselves in a similar position to Disney. If like Disney the music in question has been employed widely and proven to be a substantial source of profit companies may face relatively large losses. These may even prove economically fatal to companies who are ill prepared to deal with the result of such an action.