DJ Casper, the man behind the 2003 hit “Cha Cha Slide,” filed a lawsuit against several parties over copyright and publishing rights to the dance floor favorite.
In the lawsuit filed Dec. 31, DJ Casper says he entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with M.O.B. Records in 2000. He names songwriter Jerome Haywood as the man who assisted him in filling out the copyright forms for the song.
But both M.O.B. and Haywood, according to Casper’s lawsuit, have cheated him out of royalties by taking the copyright and licensing for themselves and designating his composition as a “work for hire” project.
Casper’s “said royalties were never paid and [the] Plaintiff (DJ Casper) never received any accounting statements despite demands, and even as the song became very popular and, on information and belief, Defendant M.O.B. sold over 500,000 copies,” the lawsuit stated.
Additionally, Casper claims that the accused parties filed their own separate copyrights in hopes of taking complete ownership of the hit record, despite Casper allegedly securing the copyright several years before.
The “Cha Cha Slide,” a go-to crowd pleaser at weddings, skating rinks, sporting events and parties, reached No. 1 on Billboard’s U.S. and UK charts. In 2007, the song was prominently used by McDonalds for a national Happy Meal commercial.
