Eminem Sues Apple And MTV Over iTunes Commercial

from the singing-along-is-a-crime dept

Seems like there are a bunch of music copyright issues showing up now. Eminem is apparently suing both Apple and MTV for a commercial for Apple's iTunes software that included a kid singing an Eminem song. In this case, he seems to have a stronger argument in that Apple was using his song for commercial purposes - even if they weren't using his recording of it. Still, if I remember correctly, there are compulsory licensing laws that should allow Apple and/or the kid in the commercial to have ever right to perform his "cover" version, so long as they first informed the copyright owner and then payed specific royalties as outlined in the law. I think, however, this only applies to songs that have a registered copyright, and the article here points out that Eminem didn't register the song until after the commercial was no longer airing.

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