Had the news a few months back about lawyers trying to tap into Mouse money "in the name of impoverished African's taken advantage of by the system". Here is an update on that case.
Business News
Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2004
Disney Asks Court to Spring Mickey Mouse
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co.
wants Mickey Mouse back.
The U.S. entertainment giant went to a South African court
Tuesday seeking to set aside an order which holds some 240 of
its most famous trademarks -- including Mickey Mouse and Donald
Duck -- hostage to the outcome of a multimillion-dollar lawsuit
over the copyright to the song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight."
Lawyers for the family of the song's original composer,
South African migrant worker Solomon Linda, have sued Walt
Disney in Pretoria for infringement of copyright to the song,
one of Africa's most famous melodies.
South Africa's High Court earlier ordered that Disney be
denied the right to dispose of South African rights to the
world famous trademarks pending resolution of the case.
The move, while largely symbolic, tied Mickey Mouse's
fortunes to that of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" -- now a cause
celebre among South African artists who say the entertainment
company has grown rich while Linda's heirs remain impoverished.
The family's chief representative, Owen Dean, said earlier
that while he had no ax to grind with Disney, he would "hold
the Disney trademarks hostage pending resolution of the Linda
family's claims."
A Disney spokeswoman in South Africa declined to comment on
the case Tuesday. But lawyers for the company told the court
that various irregularities in the Lindas' suit meant the court
order limiting Disney's control over its trademark assets in
the country should be invalidated, court witnesses said.
Attorney Cedric Puckrin, representing the Linda estate,
rejected the Disney charges, and urged Judge Hekkie Daniels to
remember that the case was being heard "in a court of law, not
Disney World."
"The Lion Sleeps Tonight," which has earned an estimated
$15 million since it was written under the title "Mbube" in
1939, has been recorded by at least 150 artists around the
world and features in Disney's "Lion King" on film and on the
stage.
Lawyers for Linda's family -- who live in poverty in the
Johannesburg township of Soweto -- say that under laws in force
in South Africa at the time, rights to the song should have
reverted to Linda's heirs 25 years after his death in 1962.
Dean said the family was claiming $1.6 million in damages
from Disney.
Disney has argued that it obtained the right to use the
song properly from Abilene Music, the New York firm which
administers its copyright in the United States.
Disney lawyers also told the court that no clear case of
copyright infringement had been proven, and that any claims for
infringement should have been made against various Disney
subsidiaries rather than the parent company.
Puckrin told the court that Linda's heirs were right to
target Disney "as the mother company which controls everything
and pulls the strings."
Daniels reserved judgment on Disney's urgent appeal to void
the trademark attachments, which would give the plaintiffs
rights over the South African use of some of the company's
best-known characters if Walt Disney loses the case.
Business News
Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2004
Disney Asks Court to Spring Mickey Mouse
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co.
wants Mickey Mouse back.
The U.S. entertainment giant went to a South African court
Tuesday seeking to set aside an order which holds some 240 of
its most famous trademarks -- including Mickey Mouse and Donald
Duck -- hostage to the outcome of a multimillion-dollar lawsuit
over the copyright to the song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight."
Lawyers for the family of the song's original composer,
South African migrant worker Solomon Linda, have sued Walt
Disney in Pretoria for infringement of copyright to the song,
one of Africa's most famous melodies.
South Africa's High Court earlier ordered that Disney be
denied the right to dispose of South African rights to the
world famous trademarks pending resolution of the case.
The move, while largely symbolic, tied Mickey Mouse's
fortunes to that of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" -- now a cause
celebre among South African artists who say the entertainment
company has grown rich while Linda's heirs remain impoverished.
The family's chief representative, Owen Dean, said earlier
that while he had no ax to grind with Disney, he would "hold
the Disney trademarks hostage pending resolution of the Linda
family's claims."
A Disney spokeswoman in South Africa declined to comment on
the case Tuesday. But lawyers for the company told the court
that various irregularities in the Lindas' suit meant the court
order limiting Disney's control over its trademark assets in
the country should be invalidated, court witnesses said.
Attorney Cedric Puckrin, representing the Linda estate,
rejected the Disney charges, and urged Judge Hekkie Daniels to
remember that the case was being heard "in a court of law, not
Disney World."
"The Lion Sleeps Tonight," which has earned an estimated
$15 million since it was written under the title "Mbube" in
1939, has been recorded by at least 150 artists around the
world and features in Disney's "Lion King" on film and on the
stage.
Lawyers for Linda's family -- who live in poverty in the
Johannesburg township of Soweto -- say that under laws in force
in South Africa at the time, rights to the song should have
reverted to Linda's heirs 25 years after his death in 1962.
Dean said the family was claiming $1.6 million in damages
from Disney.
Disney has argued that it obtained the right to use the
song properly from Abilene Music, the New York firm which
administers its copyright in the United States.
Disney lawyers also told the court that no clear case of
copyright infringement had been proven, and that any claims for
infringement should have been made against various Disney
subsidiaries rather than the parent company.
Puckrin told the court that Linda's heirs were right to
target Disney "as the mother company which controls everything
and pulls the strings."
Daniels reserved judgment on Disney's urgent appeal to void
the trademark attachments, which would give the plaintiffs
rights over the South African use of some of the company's
best-known characters if Walt Disney loses the case.
