The New Zealand High Court recently found that the New Zealand
National Party infringed copyright in the Eminem song 'Lose
Yourself' as part of its 2014 election campaign.
The National Party released a television advertisement which
included a song called 'Eminem Esque.' Eminem Esque was
written by Michael Cohen and consists of a musical track with no
lyrics. Mr Cohen licensed the song to a music production company in
the USA, who subsequently licensed the song to Beatbox Music. The
National Party purchased a licence to use the track from the music
library of Beatbox Music, believing it was fine to use for the
advertisement.
Eight Mile Style LLC (who own half the rights to 'Lose
Yourself') commenced action against the National Party after
the advertisement came to their attention. Eight Mile Style alleged
that 'Eminem Esque' is a substantially similar version or
adaptation of 'Lose Yourself' and the National Party
engaged in copyright infringement by communicating
