Eminem has won a legal battle with a New Zealand political party after they used a song very similar to ‘Lose Yourself’ in an election advert.
The ‘Love The Way You Lie’ hitmaker sued the country’s National Party over copyright issues regarding their use of an instrumental track which had a similar melody and rhythm to the hit single, and they had to pay NZ$600,000 – the equivalent of almost US$482,000 – in damages.
According to a court ruling, the song only bore minimal differences to the original – which was included on the soundtrack to the rapper’s 2002 film ‘8 Mile’ – and ruled in favor of music publisher Eight Mile Style, who filed proceedings in May after the song was used in a 2014 campaign advert.
Although the National Party’s lawyers argued the song was not actually ‘Lose Yourself’ – instead, a track called ‘Eminem-esque’ from a stock music library – the court ruled that it was “sufficiently similar” to the star’s “highly original work”.
It was decided on Wednesday (25.10.17) that the song did infringe copyright laws, with the judgment stating that the drum patterns, background chords, and violin tones were considered, and all of them were said to bare “close similarities”.
The judgement added: “The nature of the use is not what Eminem or Eight Mile Style would endorse.”
