Meta sued by Eminem's publishing company over alleged copyright infringement
The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Michigan, accuses the Menlo Park-based tech company of storing, reproducing and distributing Eminem's music without obtaining the license to do so.
Eight Mile Style, which is based in Ferndale, Mich., is seeking at least $109 million from Meta and a court order to stop several alleged forms of copyright infringement.
Music is a big part of social media. On Meta's platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, people add music in photos and videos they share publicly or with their friends and family.
But the way social media has changed the way people listen to and discover new songs has also sparked concerns from artists about whether they're fairly compensated.
"Meta's years-long and ongoing infringement of the Eight Mile Compositions is another case of a trillion (with a 'T') dollar company exploiting the creative efforts of musical artists for the obscene monetary benefit of its executives and shareholders without a license and without regard to the rights of the owners of the intellectual property," the lawsuit said.
Meta said in a statement that it has licenses with thousands of partners globally and an "extensive" global licensing programs 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," the company said in an email.
Eight Mile Style owns and controls 243 compositions recorded by Eminem, a rapper and music producer that has created popular hits such as "Lose Yourself." Meta did remove some of these songs including "Lose Yourself" from its music libraries, but other versions of the music including a piano instrumental cover and a karaoke version still remain on the platform, according to the lawsuit.
Meta not only allowed users who upload these songs to infringe on copyright but knowingly stored and reproduced them in its music libraries so users can use the music in videos and photos, the lawsuit alleges. Users have added Eminem's music in millions of videos that have been viewed billions of times, according to the lawsuit.
Meta also unsuccessfully tried to obtain a license for Eminem's songs as part of negotiations with the digital music royalty company Audiam even though the firm didn't have the authority to give them that license.
"Meta executives have actively encouraged such rampant infringement in order to attract as many users as possible to, among other things, make advertising on their services more profitable for themselves," the lawsuit said.
More than 3 billion people use one of Meta's apps daily, and the company makes billions of dollars every quarter from advertising.
In the first three months of this year, Meta's revenue reached $42.31 billion, an increase of 16% year-over-year. The company's net income jumped by 35% to $16.6 billion in the first quarter.
This isn't the first time Meta has faced legal issues over the use of Eminem's music. In 2013, Eight Mile Style sued Facebook, alleging the social network used the Eminem song "Under the Influence" for an ad without their consent.
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