The musician behind “Cheese Tax,” the dog song that took over TikTok in 2023, has sued Kroger and LG Electronics. Matthew Michael Hobbs, the Georgia-based creator of Puppy Songs, filed two copyright complaints in federal court in Los Angeles on October 19, 2026, alleging that each company used the track in a promotional TikTok video without a license, Music Business Worldwide and Billboard reported.
The song and the rules
The complaints describe Puppy Songs as “a collection of nearly 200 original songs that tell stories about life with a dog.” According to the filings, Hobbs first posted “Cheese Tax” as an original sound on his @puppysongs TikTok profile on February 28, 2023, and it was used in tens of thousands of user posts. Billboard said his Puppy Songs page has more than 800,000 followers, and Digital Music News put the track at 4.05 million Spotify streams.
The central issue is TikTok's two-tier music system. Personal accounts can soundtrack posts with almost anything in the app, but brand accounts are limited to the Commercial Music Library unless they license songs directly, Billboard explained. Hobbs says “Cheese Tax” was never in that library, and that he has done licensing deals with brands including BarkBox, Purina, Petco and DoorDash.
What the complaints allege
The Kroger suit alleges the supermarket chain posted a video set to the song on its @kroger account on March 10, 2023, “just ten days after the Works were first published,” and that it was viewed at least 6,231 times, MBW reported. Hobbs says he found it around December 2, 2025, and sent a demand in March 2026. According to the complaint, Kroger responded that the song was available to TikTok business accounts when it posted the video, an assertion the complaint calls “false.” Kroger removed the video around April 23, 2026, according to the filing.
The LG complaint centers on a March 21, 2023 post on the @lgusa account showing “a dog at an open refrigerator.” It alleges LG downloaded and reposted a video made by the user @vito.the.boxer and labeled the audio as LG's own “original sound,” which adds two claims under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. LG removed it around April 24, 2026, the complaint says. These are allegations that have not been tested in court. Billboard reported that a rep for LG declined to comment and that Kroger did not immediately respond.
What is at stake
Each complaint seeks statutory damages of up to $150,000 per infringed work, the ceiling for willful infringement, plus a court order barring further infringement, MBW reported. Both suits treat the recording and the composition as separate works. It is not the first time Hobbs has gone to court over the song: Digital Music News reported he sued Land O'Lakes and Arby's owner Inspire Brands in April over “Cheese Tax” posts, and that the Inspire case was resolved in September.
The cases join a wave of brand social media suits. Billboard noted that Sony Music sued Kroger in August over TikTok and Instagram posts featuring songs by Harry Styles, Mariah Carey, Miley Cyrus and SZA.