|
 The track, played during the National Party's
successful 2014 election campaign and titled "Eminem Esque", was
found by a New Zealand court to have "substantially copied" Lose
Yourself.
The National Party used the song 186 times during the campaign
before taking the ad off the air, the court said.
"This decision is a warning to sound-alike music producers and
their clients everywhere," Adam Simpson, director of Simpsons
Solicitors, who acted for Eminem’s music company, Eight Mile
Style, said in a statement.
The National Party said the music was licensed with one of New
Zealand’s main industry copyright bodies, the Australasian
Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS).
"Being licensed and available for purchase, and having taken
advice from our suppliers, the party believed the purchase was
legal," National Party President Peter Goodfellow said in a
statement.
"The party is now considering the implications of the judgment
and the next steps. We already have a claim against the
suppliers and licensors of the track."
[to top of second column] |
 The court found Eight Mile Style was entitled
to damages of NZ$600,000 ($413,000) with interest from June 28,
2014.
"We anticipate that all the defendants will meet to discuss the
implications of the decision in the very near future," copyright
body AMCOS said in an email, hailing the decision as an
important first step towards resolution of the matter.
The publisher had exclusive control over the song, and rarely
gave permission for its use in advertising, the court said.
"It was no coincidence that the works sounded the same and the
undeniable inference to be drawn from the evidence is that the
composer of 'Eminem Esque' had 'Lose Yourself' in front of him
at the time of composition," it added.
(Reporting by James Regan; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
