''Eight Mile Style v New Zealand National Party''

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NZHC 2603 is a decision of the High Court of New Zealand which ruled that the

New Zealand National Party The New Zealand National Party ( mi, Rōpū Nāhinara o Aotearoa), shortened to National () or the Nats, is a centre-right political party in New Zealand. It is one of two major parties that dominate contemporary New Zealand politics, alongside ...

's use of sound-alike music to the song " Lose Yourself" by American rapper

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem (; often stylized as EMINƎM), is an American rapper and record producer. He is credited with popularizing hip hop in middle America and is critically acclai ...

in a campaign advertisement for the 2014 general election infringed on their copyright. The National Party was ordered to pay $600,000 in damages, which were reduced to $225,000 on appeal to the

Court of Appeal A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

Lawsuit

On 16 September 2016,

's publishers filed a lawsuit with the High Court in Wellington, claiming that the National Party, its advertising agency and others involved in creating and licensing the track had made a copyright infringement from using an instrumental version of the song " Lose Yourself" in television advertisements without their consent. Their campaign manager Steven Joyce stated their using of the song was "pretty legal", claiming it had been purchased from an Australian music library. The publishers counter-claimed that they never allowed the song to be used in a political advert. The trial began at the Wellington High Court on 1 May 2017. The case concluded on 12 May 2017; Justice Helen Cull reserved her decision. On 25 October, the High Court ruled that the National Party and its co-defendants had breached copyright and ordered them to pay $600,000 plus interest.

Appeals

Court of Appeal

The National Party appealed the ruling on grounds that copyright wasn't breached and if it was, the damages should have been lower. There was a cross-appeal from US companies Eight Mile Style and Martin Affiliated sought to have the damages to be increased. The Court of Appeal of New Zealand upheld the National Party's appeal on damages only and reduced the amount of the damages to $225,000.

Supreme Court

Subsequently, Eight Mile Style sought leave to appeal the Court of Appeal decision in the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

in May 2019. The application for leave to appeal was dismissed and Eight Mile Style was ordered to pay $4500 in costs.

Reactions

Eight Mile Style Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem (; often stylized as EMINƎM), is an American rapper and record producer. He is credited with popularizing Hip hop music, hip hop in Middle America (United Sta ...

spokesman Joel Martin said the company was happy with the result following a "distasteful" trial for them, while National Party president Peter Goodfellow said the party was disappointed with the final verdict and would proceed themselves to pursue legal action against Labrador and Beatbox, who supplied them the music. Eminem told '' Variety'' that he was not consulted about the case, but should he receive any money from it he would donate it to charity for the

Hurricane Harvey Hurricane Harvey was a devastating Category 4 hurricane that made landfall on Texas and Louisiana in August 2017, causing catastrophic flooding and more than 100 deaths. It is tied with 2005's Hurricane Katrina as the costliest t ...

relief efforts. Musician and former

APRA APRA or Apra may refer to: Places *Apra, Punjab, a census town city in Jalandhar District of Punjab, India * Apra Harbor, the main port of Guam Acronyms * American Popular Revolutionary Alliance (Alianza Popular Revolucionaria Americana), a Peruvi ...

director Mike Chunn said that sound-alike recordings are routinely used in advertising and that the ruling was unfair.

References

{{Eminem Copyright case law Eminem High Court of New Zealand cases 2014 New Zealand general election New Zealand National Party Political scandals in New Zealand 2017 in case law 2017 in New Zealand law