De echte fans van The Big Bang Theory zijn uiteraard bekend met het Soft Kitty liedje dat Sheldon gerust stelt als hij ziek is, en zingt voor andere karakters als deze op hun beurt weer ziek zijn. Dit liedje bestaat als sinds 1937 en nu zijn CBS en Chuck Lore de makers van de show aangeklaagd omdat ze het zouden gebruiken zonder toestemming van de recht hebbende. De website Arstechnica heeft alle ins en outs over deze zaak voor je en daar van kan je hier onder alvast wat lezen terwijl je luistert naar het liedje.

The heirs to a poet who claim their mother wrote a poem popularized in the TV series The Big Bang Theory are suing CBS and others connected to the sitcom for allegedly using the "soft kitty" lyrics without their permission on at least eight episodes.

The lawsuit, filed last Wednesday in a New York federal court, claims that the lyrics beginning with "Soft kitty, warm kitty" were created by Edith Newlin some eight decades ago and published in 1937 in a book called Songs for the Nursery School. The suit says the book's copyright registration was renewed in 1964, which "served also to register and renew" Newlin's copyright.

"Defendants have used the Soft Kitty Lyrics without authorization in their entirety as an emblematic feature of The Big Bang Theory, contributing materially to the program's enormous success, and in promotion and advertising for the show," according to the suit (PDF). "Defendants have also used the Soft Kitty Lyrics in their entirety on a wide range of merchandise items, from t-shirts to air fresheners, as part of one of the largest global licensing and merchandising programs ever mounted for a live-action television series."

The suit claims that Kentucky-based Willis Music, which copyrighted the book where the lyrics first appeared, erroneously granted Warner Brothers the rights to the lyrics in 2007 so they could be used in the show.

"Defendants not only willfully infringed Plaintiffs' copyright, but they failed to credit Edith Newlin as the author of the Loft Kitty Lyrics. Instead, they placed a credit line on some merchandise items that made it appear as if one of the Defendants themselves created the soft Kitty lyrics," the suit claims. "The credit states that the Soft Kitty Lyrics were 'Written by Bill Prady.' Bill Prady is a principal of Defendant Chuck Lorre Productions, one of the producers of The Big Bang Theory."

CBS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.