Black Eyed Peas' music publisher BMG Rights Management have launched a lawsuit against toy company MGA over their The Poopsie Slime Surprise: Dancing Unicorn toy, which allegedly sings a song that sounds very much like one of their own hits.
As heard in the product's promotional advert, when buyers press on the unicorn's heart-shaped bellybutton, a song titled My Poops plays, and according to the hip-hop/pop quartet and their team, infringes upon the copyright of their 2005 smash hit My Humps.
The lawsuit states that the unicorn song's lyrics - which read, 'My poops, my poops my poops my poops. Whatcha' gonna do with all that poop, all that poop' - deliberately mimic the lyrics in the original Black Eyed Peas track.
BMG - who reportedly own 75% of the composition copyright in My Humps - argue that not only does My Poops also use the same melody and chords, but that the lead singing/pooping unicorn sounds "very similar" to BEP's frontwoman Fergie.
Other lyrics state: 'I drive my parents crazy, I do it every day', which is almost line-for-line the same as My Humps' lyrics, which read: 'I drive these brothers crazy, I do it on the daily.'
The music publisher's declare that he Poopsie Slime Surprise toy line has earned MGA significant profits, which they argue is at least partially due to its accompanying track, My Poops. They have therefore asked the court for at least $10million (£8.7million) in damages.
According to the complaint, MGA allegedly ignored all cease-and-desist notices from BMG, who have declined to comment on the lawsuit.
The case could, possibly, maybe have ramifications for anyone else inventing weird toys that simply shouldn't be allowed to exist, or showing an overly-enthusiastic fascination in the art of "pooping".
We await further developments, and will keep you up to date on this landmark case.
Check out the faeces-friendly unicorn ad and compare to My Humps below:
