The Johnny Cash estate’s Coca-Cola lawsuit, filed November 25, 2025 in federal court in Nashville, accuses the beverage company of using a tribute singer to imitate Cash’s voice in a national television commercial without permission. The John R. Cash Revocable Trust is suing under Tennessee’s ELVIS Act, the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act, and the federal Lanham Act, and it wants the ad pulled off the air along with monetary damages.1Court Listener. John R. Cash Revocable Trust v. The Coca-Cola Company2GW Law MCIR. John R. Cash Revocable Tr. v. Coca Cola Co.
The Commercial at the Center of the Case
The ad is called “Go the Distance,” part of Coca-Cola’s “Fan Work Is Thirsty Work” campaign tied to the 2025 NCAA college football season. It began airing in August 2025 and features an original song sung by a male vocalist whose voice the estate says is “readily identifiable and attributable” to Johnny Cash.3Music Business Worldwide. Johnny Cash Estate Hits Coca-Cola With Elvis Act Lawsuit Over Sound-Alike Singer in Ad
The singer is Shawn Barker, a professional tribute artist who has performed as “The Man in Black” for more than two decades.4The Man in Black. Shawn Barker – The Man in Black: A Tribute to Johnny Cash The estate says Coca-Cola’s advertising agency specifically hired Barker to make the vocal track sound as close as possible to Cash, and the complaint points to social media comments from viewers who thought Cash himself was singing.2GW Law MCIR. John R. Cash Revocable Tr. v. Coca Cola Co. The trust calls it voice piracy and “theft,” and argues that Coca-Cola, which routinely licenses celebrity talent, knew it needed permission and skipped the step.5The Independent. Johnny Cash Estate Coca-Cola Lawsuit
Since Cash’s death in 2003, the trust has authorized his voice for commercial use only twice, both times for Super Bowl advertisements.6The Hill. Coca-Cola Johnny Cash Lawsuit Elvis Act Barker himself is not a defendant. The suit names only The Coca-Cola Company.
What the Estate Is Claiming
The complaint rests on three theories. The central one is a violation of Tennessee’s Ensuring Likeness, Voice, and Image Security Act, known as the ELVIS Act. The estate also alleges a violation of the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act and brings a false endorsement claim under the federal Lanham Act.2GW Law MCIR. John R. Cash Revocable Tr. v. Coca Cola Co.
The trust is asking the court for an injunction to pull the commercial and for damages under both the ELVIS Act and state consumer protection law.7Rolling Stone. Johnny Cash Estate Lawsuit Coca-Cola Ad Voice Elvis Act The complaint pleads damages exceeding $75,000 and demands a jury trial.8KFOR. Johnny Cash Estate Sues Coca-Cola Over Ad The case is being handled for the trust by Tim Warnock and Keane Barger of Loeb and Loeb, with Catherine C. Sullivan as sole trustee.9WKRN. Johnny Cash Lawsuit Complaint
How the ELVIS Act Applies to a Human Impersonator
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed the ELVIS Act on March 21, 2024, and the law took effect July 1, 2024. It was the first state statute in the country aimed specifically at unauthorized commercial use of a person’s voice, image, and likeness in the age of AI.10Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law. Tennessee’s ELVIS Act
The Cash case, though, is not about AI. Billboard reported it as the first high-profile case brought under the statute, and it targets old-fashioned human vocal mimicry.11Billboard. Johnny Cash Estate Lawsuit Coca-Cola Voice Mimic Ad The estate’s theory hinges on how the law defines “voice”: “a sound in a medium that is readily identifiable and attributable to a particular individual, regardless of whether the sound contains the actual voice or a simulation.”12Tennessee General Assembly. House Bill 2091 – ELVIS Act Because the statute covers a simulation and not just the actual voice, the trust argues it reaches a human performer whose singing is engineered to be indistinguishable from Cash’s.
For someone who has died, the Act requires permission from the executor, administrator, heirs, or designated representatives before a voice or likeness can be used commercially. The right runs for at least ten years after death and can extend longer as long as commercial use continues. Violations carry criminal misdemeanor exposure and support civil suits for damages and injunctive relief.12Tennessee General Assembly. House Bill 2091 – ELVIS Act
How Earlier Soundalike Cases Fit In
The estate’s argument draws on a familiar line of soundalike disputes. In 1988, the Ninth Circuit ruled for Bette Midler after Ford hired a backup singer to imitate her for a car commercial, holding that “when a distinctive voice of a professional singer is widely known and is deliberately imitated in order to sell a product, the sellers have appropriated what is not theirs.”13Cardozo Law Review. Right of Publicity and Soundalike Voices Tom Waits won a similar case against Frito-Lay four years later over a Doritos commercial.
Those cases came out of California common law. This one is being tried under a newer Tennessee statute written for exactly this kind of claim, and because the ELVIS Act has no track record of judicial interpretation, commentators have flagged open questions: whether fair use or First Amendment defenses might apply, and where courts will draw the line between lawful imitation and actionable mimicry.14SCBC Law. Tennessee’s Elvis Act
The Lanham Act count faces its own uncertainty. A 2025 ruling from a federal court in the Southern District of New York, in an unrelated AI voice-cloning case, held that voices do not automatically qualify as protectable marks unless they function as source identifiers, and the plaintiffs there had failed to show their voices carried “secondary meaning” as brands.15Westlaw. No Trademark Copyright Protection for Voices Mimicked by AI Cash’s voice is one of the most recognizable in American music, but that argument has not been tested here yet.
Where the Case Stands
Coca-Cola did not comment publicly on the suit when it was filed, and a Nashville television station reported no immediate response to its request.6The Hill. Coca-Cola Johnny Cash Lawsuit Elvis Act A legal commentator at George Washington University suggested the company would likely argue the voice in the ad is not “readily identifiable” as Cash’s, but that analysis did not come from the company.2GW Law MCIR. John R. Cash Revocable Tr. v. Coca Cola Co.
After several unopposed extensions, Coca-Cola filed its answer to the complaint on May 8, 2026. It did not move to dismiss. A case management order from Magistrate Judge Jeffery S. Frensley set discovery to close March 31, 2027, with dispositive motions due by July 12, 2027. A jury trial before District Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw Jr. is set to begin December 7, 2027.1Court Listener. John R. Cash Revocable Trust v. The Coca-Cola Company