Lion′s Share

“Lion’s Share keenly weaves together an ethnographically based description, discussion, and analysis of copyright. Veit Erlmann’s engagement with law and anthropology has led to a pathbreaking work that tells us something very important about how copyright works and perhaps, at times, does not really work in practice. Lion’s Share breaks new ground in its consideration of the operation of legal and business institutions, particularly as they relate to intellectual property in an African context. This book also advances our understanding of how copyright affects music and musicians.” - Olufunmilayo B. Arewa, author of Disrupting Africa: Technology, Law, and Development

“Lion’s Share is a compelling read on the past, present, and future of intellectual property law in South Africa. Veit Erlmann’s in-depth study of the Linda-Disney settlement and the passing of the Intellectual Property Laws Amendment Act provides a tactile retrospective, while his engagement with copyright enforcement and the Copyright Amendment Bill provides insight into the present. The book’s incisive comments on the impact of law and how role players’ positions and politics influence legislative processes give some glimpses of what the future may entail.” - Caroline B. Ncube, author of Intellectual Property Policy, Law, and Administration in Africa: Exploring Continental and Subregional Cooperation

"Erlmann’s latest publication brings together a series of interesting and diverse ethnographic moments that illustrate the complex state of contemporary South African copyright. ...  The book encourages legal scholars, anthropologists, and musicologists to bring their heads together. The reflections that emerge in the text subsequently probe us to consider how one can communicate and interact meaningfully across all manner of divides within and beyond the academy."

"In this interdisciplinary project of 'anthropology in law,' Erlmann brings an immersed, skeptical 'ethnography of copyright' to bear on South Africa's legal, political, and musical cultures, and examines discourses of law, scholarship, creativity, commercialism, indigeneity, and racial justice, all in an effort to answer a question that unsurprisingly remains unanswered to this day: 'Who will reap the lion's share?'" - Robert Spoo, Law, Culture and the Humanities