(AllHipHop News) The Black Eyed Peas have been sued from planiffs that allege that the Hip-Hop/pop group copied “I Got a Feeling,” and “Boom Boom Pow,” two of their most popular hits.
Both suits were filed on Thursday November 28 in federal courts in Santa Ana and Los Angeles.
A Texas-based songwriter named Bryan Pringle filed the Santa Ana suit and charges his song, “Take a Dive,” was taken deliberately and re-christened “I Gotta Feeling.”
The Los Angeles lawsuit is a refilling of a previous claim from Chicago rapper Phoenix Phenom (nee Ebony Latrice Batts), and her producer Manfred Mohr. They allege that the Black Eyed Peas infringed on their song “Boom Dynamite” and made it into “Boom Boom Pow.”
Like the lawsuit filed in January of 2010, Batts claims that The Black Eyed Peas stole portions of her song “Boom Dynamite” and reused them in their worldwide hit single, “Boom Boom Pow.”Both Pringle and Batts are now represented by Dean A. Dickie of Miller Canfield, Ira Gould of Gould Law Group and George Hampton IV of HamptonHolley LLP. “Both Complaints allege that the Defendants UMG Recordings, Interscope Records and members of the Black Eyed Peas engaged in a pattern and practice of intentional copyright infringement with respect to the unlawful copying of songs of unknown or lesser-known artists. It is public knowledge that there have been multiple copyright infringement cases or claims brought against the Black Eyed Peas within the last year, and they are referred to in the Complaint,” said Dickie. “A simple listening to the songs will expose them as having been copied and being ‘substantially similar’– the legal standard in copyright infringement cases.”
UMG Recordings and Interscope Records are included in the Los Angeles complaint.
Both lawsuit request damages, past and future profits, credits and royalty payments.
