A federal lawsuit filed in New York accuses WWE, TKO, John Cena, and others of using an unlicensed sample in Cena’s theme song, “The Time Is Now,” as reported by Brandon Thurston of POST Wrestling.
The complaint, filed in the Southern District of New York, cites the horn-driven intro and outro as being copied from a 1974 recording arranged by the late Pete Schofield.
His daughter, Kim Schofield, is the plaintiff of the case, stating she now owns the copyrights to the record and the music she notes as an original arrangement.
The dispute over intellectual property rights becomes more complex as the recording itself was a cover of a Bobby Russell song, but Schofield asserts that the horn arrangements in question were original additions.
The new lawsuit seeks to void a settlement made between WWE and the Schofield family for $50,000, under the impression that the company withheld information about the long-term use of the sample and an upcoming national ad campaign from Toyota.
It also seeks to recover damages in excess of $150,000.
The situation arises just over a week before Cena steps into the ring for his final WWE match at Saturday Night’s Main Event, taking place December 13 from the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.