Back in October Tim McGraw and Faith Hill released “The Rest of Our Life,” the title track off their duets album that dropped a month later. The track featured both singers and boasted four songwriters, most notably Ed Sheeran.
And while the song climbed its way into Billboards Hot 100, Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts, the trio found themselves in hot water this week as they found themselves on the receiving end of a copyright infringement lawsuit on Wednesday.
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Australian songwriters Sean Carey and Beau Golden filed a complaint with the New York federal court on Wednesday, accusing the McGraw/Hill song of “blatant copying” their 2014 song “When I Found You.”
“The copying is, in many instances, verbatim, note-for-note copying of original elements of the Song, and is obvious to the ordinary observer,” the complaint read.
The duo are being represented by Richard Busch, the same attorney who helped Marvin Gaye’s family win a copyright lawsuit against Robin Thicke over the song “Blurred Lines.”
Also named in the lawsuit are fellow songwriters Johnny McDaid and Amy Wadge along with Sony/ATV, Universal Polygram and WB Music to name a few.
According to Carey and Golden, Sony Music was allegedly fully aware they were stealing the song for McGraw and Hill. The two were tipped off during a conference call with Tim Holland, a Sony marketing manager and the boyfriend of “When I Found You” co-writer Jasmine Rae.
“During this conversation, Mr. Holland admitted to knowing about the Infringing Song months in advance of its release because he was tasked with promoting and marketing the Infringing Song and Infringing Sound Recording before its release,” the complaint reads. “When questioned by Plaintiffs as to his silence about the similarities between ‘When I Found You’ and the Infringing Song/Infringing Sound Recording, Mr. Holland stated he did not want to lose his job with Sony Music. … When pressed further by Plaintiffs, Mr. Holland indicated that he had known that the songs were substantially similar for more than two months prior to the October 5, 2017 release date of the Infringing Song/Infringing Sound Recording.”
Sony Music, McGraw, Hill and Sheeran have all yet to comment on the lawsuit.
