On July 27, 2021, Country singer Jake Owen (Joshua Ryan Owen) was sued in Nashville federal court for alleged copyright infringement involving his 2020 No. 1 country song “Made for You.” Songwriters Alexander Cardinale and Morgan Reid allege that Owen’s “Made for You” copied significant portions of its structure and lyrics from their song “Made for You” released in 2014. They later licensed their song for a Coca Cola commercial. The lawsuit also names as defendants the other songwriters Benjy Davis, Joey Hyde and Neil Medley, plus Big Loud Records.

Interestingly, Owen told Billboard that his song’s creation stems from an unsolicited email he received from Mojo Music song plugger Courtney Crist, who sent him a recording. It’s unclear what percentage of the finished song was already captured in Crist’s recording. According to Billboard, songwriter Benjy Davis composed some or all of the lyrics: “

Songwriter Benjy Davis (“Break It In”) had toyed with a descending guitar melody for several months, and on May 24, 2017 — the night before a writing session in Nashville’s Berry Hill neighborhood — he started to attach some words to it. ‘I was just thinking like, ‘This was made for that, and I was made for you,’ ” he says. In fact, he conceived those ‘water towers’ and ‘football games’ lines before his writing appointment, and when he presented them along with “Made for You” as the title, his co-writers — Joey Hyde (“Later On”) and Neil Medley — were all in on a song with a simple, straight-forward message.”

Alex Cardinale and Morgan Reid song “Made for You”

Cardinale and Reid licensed song for Coca Cola commercial

Jake Owen, “Made for You”

Based on a quick listen to the two songs, I think they sound fairly different, especially in the guitar chords in the opening of the songs. Maybe I’m missing something? And it’s also probably the case that, a very high level, a lot of country music, especially about love, sounds similar. I’d also like to see a comparison of the lyrics, remembering that songs titles are not copyrightable.

Complaint