Rockers Daryl Hall and John Oates have filed a lawsuit against their music publisher, claiming it failed to protect their rights to the hit Maneater.

The suit, filed this week in Manhattan, says a singer-songwriter used the 1982 single for a 2006 recording.

The two say Warner Chappell Music refused to sue for copyright infringement.

Warner Chappell "failed and refused to take action based upon a conflict of interest of its own making," the lawsuit alleges.

The company released a statement calling the suit "without merit."

Maneater is considered the biggest of the duo's hits, topping the singles chart for four weeks in late 1982.

The suit doesn't name the artist who used the song in 2006. However, it was re-interpreted by Canadian Nelly Furtado for her song, also called Maneater, from her album Loose. Then it was sampled again in 2006 when the Ying Yang Twins released a song, Dangerous.

Hall and Oates formed their band in the early 1970s and had a string of hits from the late 1970s through the 1980s including Rich Girl, Private Eyes, I Can't Go for That (No Can Do), Sara Smile and She's Gone.

They were inducted into the U.S. Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003.