New Zealand's governing center- right political party received some high profile celebrity attention for its election campaign Tuesday -- in the form of a court case.
Representatives of U.S. rapper Eminem announced they would sue the ruling National Party for allegedly using music from his Grammy and Academy Award-winning hit, "Lose Yourself," in election campaign advertising.
Detroit-based publishers of Eminem's copyrights -- Eight Mile Style, LLC and Martin Affiliated, and LLC -- filed a suit at the Wellington High Court seeking damages for copyright infringement from the National Party.
Spokesman Joel Martin said it was disappointing and sadly ironic that the party that had introduced tougher new copyright protection laws should itself "have so little regard for copyright. "
"Eminem's publishers were not approached for permission to use any of Eminem's songs for this campaign advertisement," Martin said in a statement.
"Lose Yourself" was one of the most iconic copyrights in the world and the song's publishers had rarely authorized its use to advertise products and had said they would never allow it to be used in connection with any political campaign, he said.
The publishers had previously sued Apple for using an Eminem song in a commercial spot without permission and had a high- profile dispute with Audi over allegations that it had wrongfully used a substantial reproduction of "Lose Yourself" in its advertising.
The National Party issued a statement rejecting the allegation and vowing to defend the case vigorously.
The party had purchased the music from recognized production music supplier Beatbox, based in Australia and Singapore, and was assured the music in question did not infringe any copyright and was an original work, it said.
It noted that the music had been licensed multiple times in Australia and New Zealand, such as for television shows, without issue or complaint.
"It appears though that the National Party is the only organization that has used this material that is being legally targeted," it said.