Estate Johnny Cash is suing Coca-Cola, accusing the company of hiring a tribute singer to illegally imitate a country singer's voice for a college football commercial because Billboard reports.
The federal complaint, filed Tuesday in Nashville, is the first major case to fall under Tennessee's Electronic Voice and Image Likeness Act (ELVIS). Effective 2024 Elvis Law expanded the state's legal right of publicity to protect an individual's voice from exploitation.
Cash's estate manager, John R. Cash Revocable Trust, quoted the song in a commercial that has aired during college football games since August. In the lawsuit, the estate claims that the voice in the ad sounds “remarkably” similar to Cash's and that it is the voice of an artist named Sean Barker, who is a professional Cash tribute artist.
“The theft of an artist's voice is theft. It is the theft of his integrity, personality and humanity,” wrote Tim Warnock of Loeb & Loeb, Cash's attorney. “The Trust is filing this lawsuit to protect the voice of Johnny Cash and to send a message that protects the voice of all artists whose music enriches our lives.”
While Cash's estate does license the late artist's intellectual property, such as his songs “Ragged Old Flag” and “Personal Jesus,” which were used on Super Bowl telecasts, the estate claims that Coca-Cola “didn't even bother to ask the foundation for a license” in the case of this ad, where they used a voice that sounded like Cash, which aired during college football games.
According to the complaint, “This case involves the Coca-Cola Company using the pirated voice of Johnny Cash in a nationwide advertising campaign for the purpose of enriching itself—without seeking permission or providing any compensation to the humble man and artist who created the reputation from which Coca-Cola now profits.”
The Coca-Cola representative did not return immediately Rolling Stonerequest for comments.
The estate is seeking an injunction that would take the commercial off the air, as well as provide financial damages due to alleged violations of Cash's rights under the Elvis Act, and seek other damages.
Although this is the first major case brought under the ELVIS Act, the law was intended to protect artists from artificial intelligence deepfakes and voice clones. Cash Estate's complaint against Coca-Cola does not allege that artificial intelligence was used in the advertising because Billboard notes.
