What did Matty Co do? TikToker goes viral after faking lawsuit from Coldplay 

A TikTok user called Matty Co (@itsmattyco) has gone viral after revealing an alleged cease and desist letter from the British rock band Coldplay. The TikToker claimed that the band had sent him the letter, suing him over a copyright violation for their 2003 hit, Clocks.

He posted the video with the caption:

"SOS: help me out everyone. Don’t have the funds to fight this lawsuit in court and anyone can tell it’s totally a different song."

He then proceeded to play both the tracks to prove that they sounded nothing like each other.

The video has now been viewed over 300k times, but fans called the letter fake, pointing out valid reasons for their doubts.

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Matty Co's letter has many indications of being fake

In the video, Matty Co shared a close-up view of the letter for viewers to read, giving users a chance to find evidence proving the document to be fake.

The letter shown by him has a header for a company called “Capitol Music Group, LLC,” but no such company has ever represented Coldplay. Moreover, Clocks was released under Warner Music Group.

The letter also addressed the company from San Rafael, California, whereas no LLC company of that name is registered in California, and the attached number to the company was found to be a disconnected line.

Many even pointed out that copying a song or melody would result in a copyright claim and not a trademark lawsuit. One viewer commented:

“The author of the letter doesn’t understand the difference between a trademark and a copyright. Seems fishy to me.”

Additionally, the letter looked similar to a viral cease and desist letter sent by Jack Daniel’s to author Patrick Wensink. The letter went viral in 2012 for being "the most polite" C&D letter ever written, explaining the discrepancies in Matty Co's letter like odd font changes, strange word spacing, incorrect business listing, use of trademark instead of copyright, dead phone number, and more.

Another user pointed out:

"This is a badly photoshopped alteration of a C&D letter from Jack Daniel's. It confuses TM and ©, uses wrong fonts, and that’s JD’s address at bottom.”

Most importantly, according to the TikTok video, Christy Susman sent the letter on behalf of “Capitol Music Group, LLC,” but in a comment made to the Daily Dot, she has denied sending any such letter.

It should also be noted that Susman was the trademark lawyer for Jack Daniel’s in the aforementioned lawsuit, pointing out that the notice in the TikTok is indeed a copy of the viral letter from 2012.

It is unclear why the TikToker would fake the lawsuit, but many users speculated it to be a promotion for his own song.