New Zealand: Eminem wins copyright case against political party
The country’s National Party had used his song ‘Lose Yourself’ in an election advertisement in 2014.
New Zealand’s High Court on Wednesday awarded rapper Eminem’s publishing company $600,000 (more than Rs 2.8 crore) as compensation after a political party in the country infringed on the singer’s copyright, BBC reported.
Eminem and his music publisher Eight Mile Style had filed proceedings in 2014 against the National Party, which was then the governing party in New Zealand, for using a similar version of his song “Lose Yourself” in an election campaign advertisement.
The party’s lawyers had argued that the song was bought from a stock music library, and was called “Eminemesque”. The track, which appeared in the rapper’s 2002 film 8 Mile, received the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2003.
But on Wednesday, the court ruled that the song, called “Eminemesque,” was “sufficiently similar” to Eminem’s “highly original” track. “The nature of the use is not what Eminem or 8 Mile style would endorse,” the judgment added.