“Rapper Eminem’s music publisher is suing Apple Computer Inc., claiming the company used one of the hip-hop superstar’s songs in a television advertisement without permission. Eight Mile Style filed the copyright infringement suit late last week against Apple, Viacom Inc., its MTV subsidiary and the TBWA/Chiat/Day advertising agency,” The Associated Press reports.
“At issue is an ad for Apple’s iTunes pay-per-download music software, in which a 10-year-old sings Eminem’s ‘Lose Yourself.’ The suit claims the commercial aired on MTV beginning in July 2003 and ran numerous times for at least three months. It also appeared on Apple’s Web site. ‘Eminem has never nationally endorsed any commercial products and … even if he were interested in endorsing a product, any endorsement deal would require a significant amount of money, possibly in excess of $10 million,’ according to the 15-page lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Detroit,” AP reports.
“The suit claims that Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs personally called Joel Martin, manager of Eight Mile Style, and asked Martin and Eminem to ‘rethink their position’ about using the Grammy-winning song. Eminem responded by ending discussions with Apple,” AP reports.
Full article here.
ouch…. i always assumed apple asked permission to use those songs… eminem has a point
would Apple not know better? There must be more too it.
Apple should just dump M&M’s music anyway….Good riddance, I say.
Eminem has a good point. If Apple can swing its legal bat, so can Eminem!
Oh Great,
Good idea…eminem only sells more music than all the other artists put together. Apple should drop him?
I wonder if Shady / Aftermath Records (the label Eminem owns) asked Apple for permission to show an iPod in 50 Cent’s “P.I.M.P.” music video. If not, that’s plenty of ground for a counter-suit, no?
Anyone remember the commercial? I surely don’t and I am a hip-hop fan. But nonetheless, if Apple did not get permission they should have to pay royalties. Plain and simple. Isn’t this one of the pillars of iTunes’ success, being legal?
Just give Eminem a G5 with Garageband on it, he’ll be happy.
now i really feel like purchasing an Eminem cd…NOT. Like Eminem needs another $10 million … pfft! i say.
Wow. All this indignation against Apple. How many of you people were/are involved in illegal downloading of songs? Just asking ;’-[
Ohh, that poor little boy. Did someone step on his toes now. I really thought he was tougher than that. But I guess attitude isn’t everything.
Legally though, Apple should have had their act together.
That’s my 2 bits worth.
gzero, no Apple has not right to counter sue Shady / Aftermath as long as there is no logo display and Shady / Aftermath entered into no legal obligation with Apple.
JadisOne, the commercial they are referring to aired months ago where a young ~9 year old is listening to his iPod while singing the current playing song accapella, “I’m slim shady, yes I’m the real shady…with the real slim shady please stand up, please stand up.” He is backed by a simple white background.
“I wonder if Shady / Aftermath Records (the label Eminem owns) asked Apple for permission to show an iPod in 50 Cent’s “P.I.M.P.” music video. If not, that’s plenty of ground for a counter-suit, no?”
No. It’s not. In many cases people ask manufacturers for money to feature their products. But manufacturers don’t have the same rights as artists when it comes to displaying a product vs. using someone’s intellectual property commercially.
My guess is that, at worst, it’s probably a contract dispute rather than Apple just acting unilaterally. Apple is probably going to claim that their use of the song is allowed because it’s promoting the catalog it’s contained in. There’s probably some standard clause about promotional use in the contract that allows Apple to sell his music that emmie didn’t properly consider when the deal was worked out.
$10 Million to say “Yeah, go ahead, use my song”. That’s ridiculous. Eminem obviously has a right to be compensated but that is just absurd.
rockjohnson:
Apple’s patent on the iPod design is just as valid as Eminem’s copyright of “Lose Yourself” (which is the song in the commercial) AFAIK, so I would assume that there would be ground if there was no agreement.
Whatever the case, it just seems a little petty to me, from Eminem’s side.
If I remeber the commercial, the boy used his own voice to Rap the song. There was no background music or anything. Just the kid rapping.
Maybe that was how Apple got around that.
anybody that uses eiminem to sell their product should be sued. he raps like a white guy… ahahhahahahhahahah
Does it make a difference that the song was not played at all. It was the lyrics, no the music. In those ads, other people were the ones singing. It is not like the sampled the music for the ad, and I don’t think that ad was even aired on TV, just the web. Humm. Whatever. I am sure it will not be a huge deal when it is all said and done. Wonder what took them so long to sue?
Matthew
now Eminem is a looser .. if he is suing for such a bullshit .. lamer … he is a rapper .. he shouldn;t care about no shit .. i would give him the suit if he would give all that money to support homeless people in detroit or something! … ever been in Detroit anyone ? …
I can’t believe some of the comments here defending Apple. This kind of blind loyalty is just insane. If Apple screwed up here, they screwed up. It doesn’t matter how much money is involved or how much money Eminem has, there’s a legal principle.
To mention the iPod in the Fiddy-cent video as an equivalent is insane.
“I can’t believe some of the comments here defending Apple. This kind of blind loyalty is just insane. If Apple screwed up here, they screwed up. It doesn’t matter how much money is involved or how much money Eminem has, there’s a legal principle.
To mention the iPod in the Fiddy-cent video as an equivalent is insane”
It’s not about defending Apple. Personally, if Apple is wrong, then they deserve to be punished. In any event, I find it hard to believe that Apple & Chiat/Day would make such an error unless the were getting bad legal advice that they acted upon. The courts will decide.
As for product endorsements within a video/commercial/movie/etc…, I’m sure manufacturers don’t have the same rights, but, I’m sure manufuactures to have right to protect that product from being associated with negative behavior or influence. If they didn’t give permission, do you think they would like the iPod to be associated with PIMP Juice? …after all, they do have to protect the iPods image. Someone here is doing a land grab on a power trip. Apple’s use, while possibly wrong, was intended with no malice towards M&M (sp intended). It seems M&M’s intent is to make a quick buck. Proof of that is in the fact he wasn’t willing to discuss it. But that’s just my fify-cents.
Isn’t it up to the ad agency to aquire all the legal rights when they put the thing together? Whether I like the artist or not a copyright is a copyright just not sure if the responsibility is Apple’s or not. The comments here are a good indication of many of today’s social ills. Everyone is commenting on legal rights this and suing that. The sad thing is that no one has commented on the fact that a 9 or 10 year old shouldn’t be listening to his music in the first place!
“Whatever the case, it just seems a little petty to me, from Eminem’s side.”
Actually it’s not. As Hywel correctly states, there’s a legal principle at stake here. If Apple did in fact use copyrighted material without permission, then they’re in deep legal ka-ka. The fact that copyright issues are such a hot-button topic at the moment should have compelled Apple Legal to dot their t’s and cross their i’s. Asking $10 million in damages is simply a legal strategy on the part of Eminem’s representatives to make the point that they’re serious about protecting their intellectual property. The fact that they went after Apple is a no-brainer as well, for the simple reason that Apple is a stationary target, while the millions of P2P downloaders are nearly as elusive as the truth in Congress. The worst part about this is the colossal public relations disaster that Apple faces. By touting itself as the company that made legal downloads popular and feasible, it smacks of hypocrisy on their part that they should be accused of something like this, especially as Apple has been so incredibly adamant about defending their own work, eg., the massive multi-year lawsuit against Microsoft over Windows. Blindly defending them by insulting Eminem is childish.
There probably is a promotional clause and with that in mind, why is the allegedly talented m and m suing
Is Apple right or wrong. I don’t know but I will give them the benefit of the doubt. Is m and m right. Emotionally I feel he is wrong but who knows.
If I was in a decision making position with Apple, I would remove any m and m tunes from iTunes. I mean come on, if m and m is more interested in his “music” than in promoting his and Apples common interest.. then so be it. Let him protect his music.
yada yada is right…first and foremost this is Chiat/Day’s responsibility. regardless of Apple’s involvement in the advertising, the agency is ultimately responsible for copyright issues. shame on Apple for not making sure all the “t”s were crossed, and I pitty the fool at Chiat/Day who was supposed to get the approval for all the music used in the commercials.
However, one thing no one has touched on is the use of the song. There may be some legal issues with the fact that they didn’t play the Eminem song, rather it was only being mouthed (not even really sung) by a kid.
I guess all of us arm-chair quarterbacks just to wait and see how it plays out in court, to see if Apple indeed did mess up. If so, they deserve to get smacked.
Hywel:
I wasn’t defending Apple; I just posed a (IMO valid) question. Eminem’s publisher stated that Eminem has never publicly endorsed a commercial product. By allowing 50 Cent to hold an iPod in his “P.I.M.P.” video, Eminem (or, at least his company) is endorsing a commercial product, logo or no logo.
Also, it just seems a little odd to me that Eminem’s publishers would allow his music to be put on the iTMS, yet would sue Apple when a track that’s available on the iTMS is used for promo purposes. Meaning, it would be a different story if Apple used the actual “Lose Yourself” song in the commercial, instead of a 10 year old kid singing it acapella. The former is a clear(er) copyright violation, as I understand copyright law.
Don’t get upset. It’s all good.