Merrill and the song’s co-writers named Underwood, producer Mark Bright, NBC and the NFL as co-defendants in the lawsuit, along with music publishers Sony Corp. and Warner Music Group.
According to the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Merrill claims he brought his version of “Game On” to Bright’s attention at an event in Nashville in August 2017, six months after the have been put online. Merrill says the producer told him he would pass on the song, but the song Underwood sang, with the identical title “Game On,” was used to introduce “Sunday Night Football” starting in 2018.
The lawsuit claims Underwood’s song is similar to Merrill’s song “not only in title but in many other ways, including tempo, meter, time signature, contours and rhythm patterns, melodic contours and patterns, hooks (including the shared key phrase of the chorus, ‘Game On’), progression and usage of notes, and chord progression.
“MS. “Underwood recorded a song that was substantially similar to the original song submitted through his producer, without giving credit or compensation of any kind to the original songwriters,” said Tim Foster, l Merrill’s lawyer. said in an interview with Reuters. “We think there will be significant damage.”
Foster added to Reuters that the trial came only after the defendants rejected his client’s efforts to seek a resolution.
The NFL declined to comment. An NBC Sports spokesperson said the network does not comment on pending litigation. Representatives for Underwood have not yet responded to a request for comment.
Here is Merrill’s version:
And here’s a recent version of the “Sunday Night Football” theme, taken from a game last year (some lyrics are adapted for each competition and change from game to game).
Underwood and his production team have faced similar claims in the past.
In 2013, a songwriter sued Underwood, fellow country star Brad Paisley and their backing crew, alleging they stole his song “Remind Me” for use as the Underwood-Paisley duet of the same name in 2011. federal judge face with the superstars in 2016, saying similarities between the songs (beyond the title) were a coincidence and that the melodies weren’t similar enough.
In 2017, a Canadian songwriting duo sued Underwood, his production team, their publishing companies and Sony Music Nashville, alleging they had featured a version of his Grammy-winning song “Something in the Water » to Bright in 2014, a year before Underwood published a song with the same title.
“The hook of the infringing work, as released on the album, is structurally and lyrically identical, and substantially melodically similar to the plaintiffs’ composition of the same title,” McNeill and Lyons. argued in their trial.
Underwood denied stealing the song, saying in a statement that it was “a deeply personal song about Carrie’s faith and she is saddened that anyone would attempt to challenge it for financial gain.” This case was dismissed last year.
