Thank you to everyone who contributed suggestions for finding
the copyright owner of the song titled "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" (and
its many variations). There are too many of you to thank individually,
but since I have exactly the answer I need I'll at least summarize for
the list.
Many of you suggested the American Society of Composers, Authors
and Publishers (ASCAP) and/or BMI. Both organizations have web sites
(thank you to those of you who provided the URLs). Although neither
organization provides details regarding copyright ownership on their web
sites, ASCAP in particular provides songwriter/publisher information
which could be used for follow-up.
Several people mentioned the DIALOG Copyright File (120), which
also provided useful information; and the Library of Congress. Several
more suggested contacting Disney because the song was used in the movie
"The Lion King".
The most useful response came first from Wes Cochran at Texas
Tech University, and later from Kelly Kunsch in Seattle. Both pointed
out that copyright ownership of this particular song was litigated a few
years ago (see 989 F.2d 108). The case confirmed what I thought - that
determining copyright ownership would otherwise likely have been a
complex task Luckily the song's copyright history is set out in detail
in the case!
Thanks again to all of you for providing useful leads.
Janet Darby
Supervisor, Legal Library
The Dow Chemical Company
Midland, MI
ph. 517-636-6648
fax 517-636-3771
jdarby@dow.com
> I am trying to find out who owns the copyright to the popular song
> known variously in English as "The Lion", "The Lion Sleeps Tonight",
> "Wimoweh" and, in Zulu, "Mbube (The Lion)". (In English, the first
> words of the song are: "In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion
> sleeps tonight . . . .")
>
> The song was first written and recorded in 1939 by South African
> composer Solomon Linda, under the title "Mbube (The Lion)". In the
> 1950's it became a hit in the U.S. when it was recorded by, among
> others, a group called The Tokens. The question of copyright
> ownership is therefore possibly quite complex.
>
> I have sent an e-mail to the South African Music Rights Organisation
> and to an American music production company which recently used the
> song in a movie CD. After several days I have not heard back from
> either source.
>
> Does anyone have any ideas on how to pursue this further?
>
>
> Janet Darby
> Supervisor, Legal Library
> The Dow Chemical Company
> Midland, MI
> ph. 517-636-6648
> fax 517-636-3771
> jdarby@dow.com
>
>
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Nov 14 2007 - 20:49:58 PST