Eminem paid over €300,000 in New Zealand copyright case

The New Zealand Nationalist party was ordered to pay NZ$600,000 in compensation in a breach of copyright suit filed by US rapper Eminem.

The party used a sound track, with a similar melody and rhythm to Eminem’s “Lose Yourself”, in an election advert.

The song, entitled “Eninem-esque”, bore only minimal differences to the original, according to a court ruling, which began in May.

Eight Mile Style, Eminem’s record label, filed proceedings after the party used an unlicensed version of the Oscar-winning song, in a 2014 campaign advert.

The party’s lawyers argued that the track used was not “Lose Yourself” but rather, a song called “Eminem-esque”, which they purchased from a stock music library, called Beatbox.

However, on Wednesday, the court ruled that the track was “sufficiently similar” to Eminem’s “highly original work”, adding that it did infringe copyright laws.

The judgement consisted of drum patterns, violin tones and background chords of each version, all of which bore “close similarities”, it said.

“The nature of the use is not what Eminem or Eight Mile Style would endorse”, the judgement added.

The backing track, which the Nationalist party advert featured, appeared more than 100 times on TV, during the 2014 campaign.