Linda had, way back in 1939 when most of the world had bigger things to worry about, written the music for the song which is now known, at least by all those who are unsure exactly how to say 'wimoweh', as 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight'.

Not only did Linda have to go through life with a girly surname, but he died penniless in 1962 — okay, centless if you want to be pedantic, but he would have been penniless if he’d popped his clogs a year earlier.

The song has been used many times since then, most famously by Disney in the 'The Lion King', and translated into a number of languages including Japanese (yes agreed, it doesn’t bear thinking about!).

Linda’s family, needless to say, never saw anything resembling a royalty cheque.

The case highlights what a wonderful right copyright really is. For example, did you know that?

• All sorts of things enjoy copyright

Including writing, music, photos, art, logos, films, computer programs and broadcasts. Basically, all that’s required is that it mustn’t have been copied from someone else and it must be in a material form, for example on paper or on a computer.

Your creation doesn’t even have to be any good. A hastily written, puerile and facetious newsletter enjoys copyright in the same way as a novel of great literary merit.

• Copyright, unlike patents and trademarks, doesn’t need to be registered.

It is, in fact, impossible to register copyright, subject to a few exceptions which aren’t relevant here. If you write a story or paint a picture, copyright automatically comes into existence. You don’t even need a lawyer, which isn’t so wonderful of course!

• Copyright, unlike patents and trademarks, is universal.

If you register a patent or trademark in South Africa your rights stop dead in their tracks in Musina (Messina) or whatever it’s called this week. In the case of copyright, on the other hand, your rights extend throughout the world.

In other words, if you write a song in South Africa and someone in the UK copies it, you’ve got a case. Cool hey, but be careful it works both ways! If you copy in South Africa something that you saw in the States, you’re infringing copyright.

• Copyright, like patents and trademarks, involves a monopoly.

If you have copyright you can stop anyone else copying your creation, but only if they have actually copied. If someone quite independently comes up with the same thing, tough.

• Owning the copyright.

The person who makes the creation will be the initial owner of the copyright unless he did it as part of his employment with a company or, in the case of certain types of creations like films or photos, if he was commissioned to do it by a third party.

A person who is commissioned to create a logo, however, does own the copyright, and that is why it is so vital for companies to require their agencies to sign a written transfer of the copyright in the logo on payment of the fee.

• Copyright lasts for your life plus 50 years.

Even if you do only enjoy 15 minutes of fame, your copyright lasts for an awfully long time and doesn’t die with you.

In the case of a song, book or work of art, your copyright lasts for your lifetime plus 50 years. On death, the right passes to your estate, as it did in the case of Linda’s work.

The Solomon Linda case highlights something else too, and that is that it is sometimes possible to take on the big boys.

In the jungle, the mighty jungle, it’s normally only the strongest who survive, but as Justin Nurse showed last year, the large corporates are not omnipotent and certainly not immune from public opinion.

Chances are that Disney were guided by their PR department on this one, rather than their lawyers. It really wouldn’t look too good for a US giant to be seen to be denying the apparently genuine claim of a poverty-stricken family in South Africa, now would it?