Nashville songwriters Thom Shepherd and Steve Williams, who wrote and trademarked the song "Redneck Yacht Club" sung by country star Craig Morgan, are suing an off-road recreational park using the same name outside Fort Myers, Fla.
The lawsuit, filed last week in U.S. District Court in Nashville against Danny Kelly and Gone Country Motor Sports Inc., is the second the songwriters have filed against businesses using the name. Last month, they sued The Duck Co., a T-shirt company in Arvada, Colo., saying the company sold shirts bearing their imprint, causing confusion for consumers who also can buy shirts and merchandise on the songwriters' Web site, www.redneckyachtclub.com.
"That term didn't exist until we came up with it,'' Shepherd said this week.
The song, which climbed high on the Billboard charts in 2005, invokes the image of a bunch of boats tied up together on the lake for a boat party looking "like a trailer park."
In contrast, the Florida all-terrain vehicle park features 800 acres and four mud holes, with names such as "Hog Waller" and "Gator Slough."
The park offers customers a chance to play on their "swamp buggies," ATVs and trucks without getting run off private property, as happened to owner Danny Kelly in his younger years, according to the operation's Web site. Kelly also sells T-shirts and clothing on the Web site with the words "Redneck Yacht Club."
Kelly could not be reached for comment Tuesday, and The Duck Co. owner Jim Bruno did not return a phone call by deadline.
Song titles aren't normally trademarked. In fact, to get approval from the U.S. government to register a trademark, the owners have to prove they are selling some sort of product or service under the name.
Since 2006, Shepherd and Williams have been selling T-shirts and hats under the name, the lawsuit says. The songwriters intend to use the song title one day to open bars or restaurants under the same name, according to a letter the plaintiffs' attorney, Noah McPike, wrote to the Florida ATV park in April.
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