Rapper Eminem’s music publishing company, Eight Mile Style, is suing Meta, the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, for allegedly distributing hundreds of his songs without permission.
His organization filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Mark Zuckerberg’s tech conglomerate on Friday, citing the unauthorized use of over 243 songs owned by the rapper.
According to the lawsuit, Meta failed to secure the necessary licensing to store, distribute and reproduce music from Eight Mile Style’s catalogue.
“Defendants had no license to store, reproduce, or distribute the infringed works, but have nonetheless created and stored copies of the Infringed Works on their servers, have encouraged their use, and distributed those copies to their billions of users and the general global public,” it says.
Additionally, the lawsuit claims that Meta users have been able to attach 243 songs owned by Eight Mile Style to their posts, arguing that it knowingly permitted their use without a licence, and is therefore guilty of contributory copyright infringement, vicarious copyright infringement and inducement to commit copyright infringement.
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“This case involves Meta’s knowing infringement of the Eight Mile Compositions by first reproducing and storing them in Meta’s online Music Libraries, and then distributing them for users to select and incorporate (or “synchronize”) into their own photos and videos made available for public streaming on the users’ WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram,” the lawsuit states.
According to CBS, in 2020, Meta finalized a licence agreement with digital music royalty collection firm Audiam. It failed to obtain an Eight Mile Style licence under the Audiam licence.
In 2019, Eight Mile Style sued Spotify alleging copyright infringement of approximately 250 songs owned by the publisher, including some of Eminem’s biggest hits: Without Me, Stan and My Name Is, among others.
According to the current Meta lawsuit, Eight Mile Style had previously contacted the company regarding the alleged copyright infringement, which has since wiped “several of the Eight Mile compositions from its music libraries,” including hit song Lose Yourself from its library.
A karaoke version of the song, titled Lose Yourself (In the Style of Eminem), a piano instrumental cover titled Lose Yourself Piano Version and a regular cover version by an artist named URock “all remain available as of the date of this complaint,” the filing says.
Eight Mile Style is asking for US$150,000 per song used without permission across each platform where the songs were made available by Meta, “$150,000 per work, times 243 works, times 3 platforms,” the lawsuit states, and a court order prohibiting the company from using its music.
The grand total amount being sought is approximately $109 million USD. Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Mathers, is not a named plaintiff.
In response to the filing, Meta released a statement saying:
“Meta has licenses with thousands of partners around the world and an extensive global licensing program for music on its platforms. Meta had been negotiating in good faith with Eight Mile Style, but rather than continue those discussions, Eight Mile Style chose to sue.”
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