Home Team duo sues Mass Appeal Media and two recording artists, alleging the 2023 song Pick it Up copies their 1992 Pick It Up

The complaint

Watler v. Mauldin, No. 1:26-cv-26546 (S.D. Fla., Miami Division), was entered on the docket September 21, 2026 (12 pages). Van J. Watler and Patrick Watler are Florida citizens who each make up half of the performing duo Home Team. The defendants are Jermaine Dupri Mauldin, professionally known as Jermaine Dupri, and Rodriguez Jacquees Broadnax, professionally known as Jacquees, both described as Georgia citizens and recording artists; Mass Appeal Media, Inc., a New York corporation that the complaint says operated the independent label Mass Appeal Records; and Does 1 to 20. The plaintiffs demand a jury trial. A clerk's notice assigns the case to Judge Jacqueline Becerra. (Compl. caption; paras. 3 to 8; ECF No. 2.)

What it alleges

The complaint alleges the Watlers co-wrote and composed Pick It Up, a composition and sound recording Home Team released on or around July 3, 1992, and that its lyrics and music were registered with the Copyright Office. It alleges that on or around September 22, 2023 Dupri and Jacquees released a song also titled Pick it Up through Mass Appeal, that it uses the lyrics and melody and harmony of the 1992 song, and that the two songs are substantially similar. It alleges the defendants never sought permission, and, on information and belief, that they have obtained hundreds of thousands of dollars from the song and that Mass Appeal holds an ownership interest in it. (Compl. paras. 3, 11 to 24, 61 to 62.)

The counts and relief

Counts I, II, and III plead copyright infringement against Dupri, Jacquees, and Mass Appeal respectively, and Count IV pleads unjust enrichment against all defendants. The prayer asks for general and special damages each in excess of $150,000; injunctions, declarations, or other orders crediting the plaintiffs as writers of the 2023 song, giving them their publishing percentages, and directing third parties to credit them; an accounting; statutory damages; and fees and costs. (Compl. Counts I to IV; Prayer a to j.)

On the docket

The docket shows summonses issued for all three named defendants on September 22, 2026. (Docket, ECF No. 4.)