Facebook way well lose themselves in a serious legal quandary after apparently misusing one of Eminem’s songs, via an ad released in early April of this year.
Joel Martin, chief of the Missouri-born rapper’s publishing company Eight Mile Style, is leading the charge, as the man who vehemently declared there’ll be no “curtain call” for the omnipotent social network when it comes to copyright infringement.
The commercial, a fleeting 30-second online piece entitled “Airplane,” was issued on 4th April to announce the release of ‘Facebook Home,’ an interface for Android users. Following the suggestion by listeners that it had strong echoes of the Eminem track, “Under The Influence”, a version featuring new music was posted to YouTube only days after the original had been aired.
Martin has since lodged a 12-page complaint to the Federal Court in Detroit, insisting that the ad blatantly copies Eminem’s single, released in 2000, and that the quick alteration “was an admission that Facebook knew it had infringed.” Martin is responsible for the rights and licensing of Eminem’s song catalogue, which now totals over 120 songs spanning over a near 20 year career.
According to the Detroit Free Press, the complaint states that ad agency Wieden + Kennedy copied the Eminem song in “an effort to curry favor with Facebook by catering to Zuckerberg’s personal likes and interests, and/or to invoke the same irreverent theme.”
It is known that Zuckerberg was a keen Eminem fan, judging by the multibillionaire’s teenage Angelfire website, the “About Me,” section greeting visitors with “Hi, my name is … Slim Shady. No, really, my name is Slim Shady. Just kidding, my name is Mark,” taken from “My Name Is,” one of the better known Eminem songs. …Insisting that the ad blatantly copies Eminem’s single, released in 2000, and that the quick alteration “was an admission that Facebook knew it had infringed.”
But the accusations continue to fly, and in a response to the complaint issued by the Wieden + Kennedy attorney in late April, it was asserted that Eight Mile Style had little right to claim a copyright infringement, saying the Eminem song riff had itself been copied from Michael Jackson’s 1991 song “Give In to Me.”
Giving this secondary accusation merit, it is worth noting that the King of Pop is not credited in any way on the track, which features on Eminem’s third album, The Marshall Mathers LP.
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In the letter, attorney Guy Cohen credited the writing of “Under The Influence” to longterm Eminem collaborator, LA-born Dr. Dre, who Cohen claims “has a long, well-documented history of copyright infringement.” The reality is that the song in question was co-written by Detroit hip-hop group D12 and Dr. Dre, and produced by the Bass Brothers, who were responsible for much of Eminem’s early productions and collaborations.
In a final interesting twist for the Real Slim Shady however, it was Weiden + Kennedy who were responsible for the rapper’s Super Bowl ad placement with Chrysler in 2011, an ad that celebrates Detroit – “the motor city” – and a people of “hard work and conviction,” who “know about luxury,” which features an authorized version of “Lose Yourself.”
But in spite of a wild array of accusations being fired from all parties, Wieden + Kennedy have apparently “taken steps to ensure that the earlier version of the ad is no longer publicly available.”
Interestingly, Eight Mile Style is no stranger to going head-to-head with mega companies, having challenged computer giant Apple Inc. over their unapproved use of aforementioned track “Lose Yourself,” in an iPod commercial. The case was settled out of court in 2005.
German car manufacturer Audi also agreed to an out of court settlement in 2011 after using a song that sounded uncannily like “Lose Yourself” in a European promotional clip.
It also appears Eminem is not adverse to the odd-court appearance, having ended a longstanding case with Universal Music Group in late 2012 over digital royalties with a confidential settlement between the parties.
The lawsuit, which began in 2007, accused Universal Music Group of underpaying royalties to Eminem and his production company FBT recordings because they were treating digital downloads as sales instead of licensing which attracted a higher royalty rate.
The case was due to go back to trial in April 2013 to decide how much Universal would have to cough up, but the record label saw the writing on the wall and wisely decided it was better to pay out on their own terms to make the case go away.
There’s a long list of recent cases in which musicians have had their work heavily mimicked for the sake of advertising.
Most recently, Australian adverts for online dating website CougarLife shared more than few nods to Candian electrorockers Metric, The Black Keys, who settled a case against Pizza Hut and Home Depot for ripping off songs before filing another lawsuit with an American casino chain.
Other instances include the recently split Wu Lyf who were left fuming after one of their songs was used in a ‘sexist’ ad for Toyota, Beach House, who politely declined Volkswagen’s cash to use their dream pop in ad only to be mimicked by a copycat.
Locally, local Canberra band Tonk received due compensation after discovering their songs were used not once, but twice in the popular US sitcom How I Met Your Mother, John Butler Trio’s ‘Zebra’ being ripped off by a Superbowl commercial selling yoghurt, The Grates’ ‘Aw Yeah’ used to peddle Weet-Bix, while cult Melbourne band GOD’s seminal track “My Pal” was closely referenced in an advertising campaign for Mercedes-Benz.
