A Legal Uproar Over Song in ‘Lion King’

For Walt Disney Co., it really is a jungle out there.

The Burbank media giant is being sued by a South African family that claims Disney owes them $1.6 million in damages for using a popular song written by their father in two of its “Lion King” movies.

Lawyers representing descendants of Zulu migrant worker and musician Solomon Linda say Disney violated the copyright on “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” when it featured the song in its animated musicals about betrayal and redemption on the African plain.

Money that Disney makes in South Africa from its trademarks, including Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, could be seized by the courts if Disney loses the suit, the family’s lawyer, Owen Dean, told Reuters.

Disney spokeswoman Michelle Bergman said the company hadn’t seen the lawsuit yet and couldn’t comment.

Linda’s heirs estimate that the song, initially called “Mbube” (Lion), has earned about $15 million in royalties since it was penned in 1939, but the family has received only $15,000.

The composer sold the worldwide copyright 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, Dean said.

Linda’s surviving three daughters and 10 grandchildren are entitled to a share of royalties from the song, Dean said, which has been recorded by at least 150 musicians including the Tokens, whose version hit No. 1 in the U.S. in 1961.

Disney’s original 1994 movie “The Lion King” grossed more than $1 billion in ticket sales and video sales and rentals.