Mary J. Blige’s 32-year-old hit track Real Love is at the center of a newly filed copyright infringement lawsuit against Universal Music Group’s publishing arm.
Rightsholder TufAmerica Inc. (aka Tuff City Records) has filed a lawsuit against Universal Music Publishing Group, alleging that the composition behind Blige’s Real Love from 1992 contains a sample of Impeach the President, a funk song recorded by The Honey Drippers in 1972.
In a complaint filed with the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on Thursday (April 4), TufAmerica alleged that it had advised UMG “repeatedly of the presence of the uncleared sample,” and that UMG has “refused to engage” in negotiations to address the matter.
“Defendant’s refusal to cooperate with plaintiff is difficult to reconcile with the fact that plaintiff reached an agreement with UMG Recordings, Inc. with respect to the presence of the uncleared sample from Impeach the President on the master sound recording of Real Love,” states the complaint, which can be read in full here.
TufAmerica says in the complaint that both the recording and the underlying composition of Real Love contain the sample from Impeach the President.
The complaint seeks an undetermined amount in “actual damages plus… profits from infringement.” It also seeks court costs and other costs incurred in pursuing the legal action.
“Defendant’s refusal to cooperate with plaintiff is difficult to reconcile with the fact that plaintiff reached an agreement with UMG Recordings, Inc. with respect to the presence of the uncleared sample from Impeach the President on the master sound recording of Real Love.”
TufAmerica’s legal complaint against Universal Music Publishing
Real Love is a single off Mary J. Blige’s debut album, What’s the 411?.
It was Blige’s first top 10 Billboard hit, reaching number 7 on the Hot 100 chart, and was named one of the “500 Best Songs of All Time” by Rolling Stone in 2021, ranking at 327.
Impeach the President – a protest song calling for the impeachment of then-US President Richard Nixon – was written and produced by Roy Charles Hammond (aka Roy C) and was recorded by The Honey Drippers in 1972.
The song has been sampled dozens of times, including by Public Enemy, LL Cool J, De La Soul, Janet Jackson, Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls.
TufAmerica says it owns and administers “copyrights [on] tens of thousands of musical recordings and compositions from the genres of Blues, Rhythm and Blues, Jazz, Funk, Soul, Hip-Hop, New Orleans and Latin Music, much of which might otherwise fall into obscurity.”
The firm has filed a number of copyright infringement lawsuits against prominent musical acts in the past, many of which proved unsuccessful.
In 2012, it sued Kanye West, alleging the rapper’s 2010 album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy sampled Eddie Bo’s 1969 track Hook and Sling Part One without authorization. West settled that case out of court.
TufAmerica sued Jay-Z in 2013, this time alleging that the rapper’s Run This Town infringed on the copyright of Hook and Sling Part One with a one-syllable sample. A federal judge in New York threw out the case in 2014.
In another case, TufAmerica sued The Beastie Boys, alleging that their 1989 album Paul’s Boutique sampled funk trio Trouble Funk without permission. That case was also thrown out of a New York federal court, in 2015.Music Business Worldwide
