Mississippi Songwriter Sues Cypress Hill in Chicago Federal Court

Cypress Hill is a Latin American rap group from California. The band's name is based on the area where the founding members grew up; Cypress Avenue in South Gate, Los Angeles. Founded in 1988, Cypress Hill succeeded in selling over 17 million records worldwide. In late June 2006, Glenn Watts, of Greenville, Mississippi, filed a copyright infringement suit against the band in a Chicago Federal Court.

In 1968, Watts co-wrote the song "Is it Because I'm Black," and made a first recording of the song in 1969. In 1969, Watts also registered the song in the U.S. Copyright Office. Later that year, Watts and his co-author transferred rights in the song to a third-party licensee. For the next thirty years, Watts received no royalty payments from the licensee.

In 2005, Watts received a royalty check from a Chicago attorney for use of the song. Watts did not cash the check, but soon thereafter filed a complaint for copyright infringement. The complaint claims that a Cypress Hill song entitled "Interlude" from their 1993 album entitled "Black Sunday" is a copy of Watts' song. However, Watts alleges Cypress Hill removed the lyrics from "Is it Because I'm Black".

If the Court finds that Cypress Hill does infringe Watts' copyright, Cypress Hill may be forced to pay monetary damages and/or be enjoined from performing the song. In this case, an injunction seems unlikely because Watts may benefit from or receive future royalties resulting from the use of the song.