Eminem Sues New Zealand Political Party Over 'Lose Yourself'

The US rapper has filed a lawsuit against the National Party accusing them of using an unlicensed version of his hit song in an election campaign ad.

Eight-Mile Style, a publishing group representing Eminem, is seeking damages for copyright infringement of the 2002 track, which featured on the soundtrack to the movie 8 Mile.

A lawyer for the group described ‘Lose Yourself’ as ‘iconic’ and claimed it was ‘without doubt the jewel in the crown of Eminem’s musical work’.

The commercial for John Key’s re-election as Prime Minister featured instrumental music that allegedly resembled the beat of ‘Lose Yourself’.

The National Party said the track used, called ‘Eminem-esque’, had been bought from the Australian production music library Beatbox Music and was used by others without complaint.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq9AKM82NaA

The composer of the opening guitar riff for the track said the soundtrack was a ‘blatant rip-off’.

Jeff Bass told the High Court in Wellington that the commercial’s song, ‘doesn’t taste so good, though’.

The judge-only trial is set to continue for six days.