{"id":9583,"date":"2017-10-25T10:56:33","date_gmt":"2017-10-25T14:56:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=9583"},"modified":"2017-10-25T10:56:33","modified_gmt":"2017-10-25T14:56:33","slug":"new-zealands-ruling-national-party-guilty-eminem-copyright-infringement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2017\/10\/25\/new-zealands-ruling-national-party-guilty-eminem-copyright-infringement\/","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand’s ruling National Party guilty of Eminem copyright infringement"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Zealand’s ruling National Party must pay $600,000 for infringing the copyrights of Eminem’s track “Lose Yourself” in a 2014 election spot. The ruling is significant, not least because the party’s political leader at the time was Kim Dotcom’s nemesis John Key.<\/p>\n

In recent years, New Zealand has been the center stage of the largest copyright battle in Internet history; the criminal prosecution of Megaupload and several of its former employees.<\/p>\n

In 2012, the country\u2019s law enforcement officials helped\u00a0to bring down<\/a>\u00a0the file-sharing site, including a military-style raid on its founder, Kim Dotcom.<\/p>\n

While the Megaupload case is still ongoing, a separate copyright battle in New Zealand came to a conclusion this week. In this case, the country\u2019s leading National Party was the accused.<\/p>\n

In 2014 the party of former Prime Minister and Kim Dotcom nemesis John Key\u00a0was sued<\/a>\u00a0for copyright infringement by Eminem\u2019s publisher Eight Mile Style. In an advertising spot for the General Election campaign, the party used a song heavily inspired by the track \u201cLose Yourself.\u201d A blatant copyright infringement, they argued.<\/p>\n

This week the High Court agreed with the publisher ruling that the ad indeed infringed on their copyright. The National Party must now pay a total of $600,000 (415,000 USD) including damages and interest,\u00a0NZ Herald<\/a>\u00a0reports.<\/p>\n

Recognizing the irony, Kim Dotcom swiftly took the matter to Twitter. He launched a poll asking who\u2019s guilty of copyright infringement, him or the National Party? The results are, as expected, in his favor.<\/p>\n

Lose Yourself?<\/strong><\/center>
\"\"<\/center>Dotcom sees the matter as something the old government is responsible for and he has more faith in the current leadership.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll I can say is that the irony of this is hilarious and that Karma has finally caught up with the corrupt !former! National government. Honest people are now running New Zealand and the courts will be busy dealing with the crimes committed by the last government,\u201d Dotcom informs us.<\/p>\n

The National Party didn\u2019t simply use the song without paying for it. They actually sought professional advice before starting the campaign and licensed a track called\u00a0Eminem Esque<\/em>, which is the one they used in the ad.<\/p>\n

While the party hoped to avoid more expensive licensing fees by using the knock-off song, the High Court ruled that the similarities between Lose Yourself and Eminem Esque are so significant that it breached copyright.<\/p>\n

And indeed, the music used in the ad campaign below is quite similar to the\u00a0original Eminem track<\/a>.<\/p>\n