Eminem sues New Zealand politicians over song use
Rapper Eminem is suing a political party in New Zealand over allegations they used one of his songs without permission.
Lawyers representing the hip-hop star and his music publishers filed paperwork at the High Court in Wellington on Tuesday (16Sep14) accusing the National Party of copyright infringement for using his song Lose Yourself in campaign adverts.
Joel Martin, who represents Eminem's publishing company, says, "It
is both disappointing and sadly ironic that the political party
responsible for championing the rights of music publishers in New
Zealand by the introduction of the three strikes copyright reforms
should itself have so little regard for copyright."
The song was used in adverts for Prime Minister John Key's
re-election campaign, and party representatives have denied any
wrongdoing and vowed to fight the lawsuit, saying, "The National
party will be defending this action vigorously. As the matter is
now before the courts we will not be making any further public
comment."