Jermaine Dupri and Jacquees are facing a copyright infringement lawsuit in the United States over their 2023 single Pick It Up. The case was filed by Van J. Watler and Patrick Watler, who recorded together as the duo Home Team.
The Watlers claim the 2023 track, credited to Dupri featuring Jacquees and released as Dupri’s first record for Mass Appeal, copies the lyrics and melody of Home Team’s own Pick It Up. Their complaint says that song was released on or around July 3, 1992, as the opening track on Home Team’s debut album Via Satellite from Saturn through Luke Records, the Miami label run by Luther Campbell, who is credited as executive producer.
Filing and parties#
The complaint was filed on Monday, September 21, in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida in Miami, as case number 1:26-cv-26546. It also names Mass Appeal Media, the New York-based company that owns Mass Appeal Records, the label that released the 2023 song.
The Watlers are represented by Andrew Williams of Miami firm The Williams Law Group.
Relief sought#
The Watlers are seeking more than USD $150,000 in general damages and more than USD $150,000 in special damages, although neither term is used in the Copyright Act. They also want a court order requiring that they be credited as writers on the 2023 track and that they receive what the complaint calls “the publishing percentages they are entitled to as ‘writers’ on the Song.”
- A full accounting of all money earned by the song
- An order stopping Mass Appeal from selling it
- Statutory damages, though the complaint asks only for “any prescribed statutory damages” without naming a figure
Statutory damages under US copyright law run up to USD $150,000 for each work where infringement is found to be willful. The complaint pleads only the musical composition of the 1992 song, not the master recording, which leaves a single work at issue and caps that route at the same figure. The claim against Mass Appeal, however, asks for statutory damages “per sale,” which is not how the statute operates: the award is calculated per work infringed, not per copy sold.
The filing repeatedly states that the 1992 song was registered with the US Copyright Office, but it does not provide a registration number or attach a certificate, and it includes no exhibits. Registration is a precondition for bringing an infringement suit and determines whether statutory damages and attorneys’ fees are available: they are available for a work registered before the infringement began and unavailable for a work registered after.
If Home Team wins, the practical result could be a share of the writer credit and publishing income on Pick It Up, as well as a halt to Mass Appeal’s sales of the track.
Allegations of copying#
According to the complaint, Dupri and Jacquees released their song through Mass Appeal on or around September 22, 2023. The Watlers claim, based on their belief rather than on any figures cited in the filing, that the defendants have obtained “hundreds of thousands of dollars associated with the Song from their exploitation, sale, downloads, licensing, radio airplay, synchronization and digital streaming in violation of Plaintiffs’ rights.”
“Dupri, Jacquees, and Mass Appeal all knew or should have known that the Song contained the lyrics and the melody/harmony from the Original Song,” the complaint states.
“At no time did the Defendants ever attempt to contact Plaintiffs to get their clearance or permission to license the use of the protectable lyrics and melody/harmony from the Original Song,” the filing adds.
The complaint itself does not specify which lyrics or melodic passages from the 1992 song it says were copied.
The lawsuit brings a separate copyright claim against each of Dupri, Jacquees, and Mass Appeal, and describes both artists as composers of the 2023 track. It alleges that Dupri and Jacquees each “collected music publishing royalties from various entities in violation of Plaintiffs’ rights.”
Of Mass Appeal, the complaint states: “Upon information and belief, Mass Appeal has received money for the infringing composition and has paid or caused other corporate entities to pay Dupri and Jacquees monies associated with the composition for the Song.”
The Watlers also bring a claim, in the alternative, that the defendants were unfairly enriched at their expense.
“Notwithstanding the financial gain and compensation that the DEFENDANTS received through their infringing use of the Original Song, Plaintiffs have not received any financial gain or compensation through the commercial release of the Song whatsoever, and they have not been properly credited for their contributions to the Song,” the Watlers’ complaint states.
“The circumstances are such that it would be inequitable for the DEFENDANTS to retain the benefits that were conferred upon them by Plaintiffs, without providing any benefit to Plaintiffs.”
The Watlers have demanded a jury trial and say they reserve the right to seek additional damages intended to punish the defendants.
Separate Sony litigation#
The lawsuit arrives less than a month after Dupri ended a separate legal fight with Sony Music Entertainment. Dupri and his So So Def companies sued Sony for at least USD $18 million on July 6, claiming the major had underpaid and underreported royalties on records by Kris Kross, Xscape, Usher, Mariah Carey, and others.
That complaint alleged Sony did not report producer or override royalties on Kris Kross’s first two albums until 2023, and that more than USD $2.2 million remained owed on those records alone.
