Apple in court over Eminem’s music
The music publisher of rapper Eminem, Eight Mile Style LLC, has sued Apple, saying that Apple sold his music illegally and that the publishing company wants a larger share of the money from sales.
Apple is a co-defendant in the case, which is scheduled to be decided by a judge in a trial beginning Thursday, along with Aftermath records, which says it controls the rights to the music in question in the case. Both companies are being sued because they were supposedly never authorized to use any of 93 songs subsequently sold in a downloadable format on Apple’s popular iTunes service. The trial will begin as scheduled unless a settlement is reached on Wednesday under the auspices of U.S. Magistrate Judge Virginia Morgan.
Court documents are unclear about just how much money is at stake, but the plaintiffs claim that Apple wrongfully gained $2.5 million via iTunes downloads, including $466,915 from the single song “Lose Yourself,” which was Eminem’s biggest hit from the hip-hop film “8 Mile.” The publisher also wants a share of Apple’s profit from the sale of iPods. Eight Mile also claims Aftermath Records wrongfully collected as much as $4 million from the sale of Eminem’s songs on iTunes, according to an AP story.
Apple is contesting the lawsuit, claiming that is has a valid and binding contract with Aftermath Records, from whom it purchased the rights to the music in question. At the same time, Eight Mile admits that it has received royalties from the sale of the music in question, but that it still maintains the right to sue because the ownership of the rights to the music is in question. Specifically, Eight Mile’s attorneys say that “acceptance of a single check containing mostly royalties for authorized uses, but also containing small and hidden royalties for unauthorized uses, cannot operate as a satisfaction of a claim.”
Apple, on the other hand, says that Eminem agreed that he would create sound master recording and that Aftermath Record, from whom Apple purchased rights, would have the sole right to sell the rights to the music. Apples lawyers say, “The parties also agreed that Aftermath and its distributors and licensees would ‘have the exclusive right’ to exploit the masters embodying the Eminem compositions ‘in any and all forms of media now known or hereinafter developed.’”
As more and more parties become involved in the music licensing process, and as digital copyright becomes a more complex area of law, mixing old and new rights, the involved disputes are becoming more complicated. Each decision seems to complicate the involved law and increase the likelihood of more lawsuits, forming a renewed cycle of suits and countersuits that threaten to consume the music business.
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September 23rd, 2009
so what are the ’small and hidden uses’? using Eminem’s image to sell iPods?