Jermaine Dupri and Jacquees sued over claim 2023 single copied 1992 track
Jermaine Dupri and Jacquees are facing a copyright lawsuit that claims their 2023 single “Pick It Up” copied a 1992 song of the same name.
The case was filed on Sept. 21 by Florida brothers Van and Patrick Watler, who performed in the 1990s as rap duo Home Team, according to Billboard. The filing accuses Dupri and Jacquees of copyright infringement and unjust enrichment, the claim that someone profited unfairly from another person’s work.
The Watlers say the 2023 track copied both the lyrics and the melody of their own “Pick It Up.” They also allege that no one from the artists’ or label’s teams contacted them to clear the older song before release. Clearance here means seeking permission to use an existing work.
The brothers’ original dates back more than three decades. Home Team’s “Pick It Up” was released on or around July 3, 1992, according to Music Business Worldwide. The title is the same. The dispute is over whether the music and words behind it are too close.
Independent label Mass Appeal is also named as a defendant. The lawsuit identifies the company as the label that released the 2023 “Pick It Up.”
The Watlers are seeking $150,000 in statutory damages, the fixed sums set by copyright law rather than losses a plaintiff must prove. They are also seeking an injunction, a court order, in their favour.
That order would add them as co-writers of the 2023 song and give them a percentage of publishing, the royalties paid for songwriting. The filing does not ask the court to decide that they wrote the whole new track, only that they be credited and paid for the part they say was taken.
The claims remain allegations at this stage. No court has ruled on whether infringement took place, and the filing alone does not establish liability.
For listeners, this means two records separated by 31 years are now linked in court papers. What happens next will turn on the two recordings, the writing credits and whether permission was needed.
