The East African Community is not taking Disney’s decision to trademark the Swahili phrase “Hakuna Matata” very lightly.
On August 8th, 1994, a U.S. federal trademark registration was filed for ‘hakuna matata’ under the serial number of 74558335.
The slogan was first used by Disney in the 1994 film, Lion King when Timon and Pumba sang a song with the phrase in it.
Disney Enterprises, a subsidiary of World Disney Company has been granted exclusive rights over the phrase. Disney Enterprises, Inc. operates as the merchandising and licensing division of Walt Disney Productions.
There has now emerged a petition to stop Disney from using a trademark that they did not invent. Zimbabwean activist Shelton Mpala, launched the petittion seeking to garner enough signatures that will stop Disney or any other corporations/individuals looking to trademark languages, terms or phrases they didn’t invent.
The petition has since garnered close to 40,000 signatures as Mpala describes Disney’s decision to trademark the Swahili phrase as “colonialism and robbery.”
“Join us and say NO to DISNEY or any corporations/individuals looking to trademark languages, terms or phrases they didn’t invent,” said Mpala in his petition.
“Hakuna matata” is a Swahili language phrase from East Africa; translate, it means “no trouble”. The word “hakuna” means “there is not here” while “matata” means “problems”.
Hakuna Matata has been used by most Kiswahili-speaking countries such as Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda.
Do you think the petition will see Disney lose the trademark?