Eminem is suing technology giant Meta, claiming the social media company distributed over 200 of his songs to users without permission.
The “Lose Yourself” rapper’s music publishing company, Eight Mile Style, accused Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta – the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp – of copyright infringement in the May 30 lawsuit.
Potential damages could be more than $109 million. The company is seeking statutory damages of up to $150,000 per song, per platform, according to a copy of the lawsuit obtained by PEOPLE.
The lawsuit alleges Eminem’s songs were made available in Meta’s “Music Libraries” to then be used in user-generated content using features such as Original Audio and Reels Remix.
The feature has allowed the Grammy-winning artist’s songs to be used in millions of videos and streamed billions of times, according to the suit.
Eight Mile Style claims in the suit that Meta violated the copyright of 243 songs from its catalogue through the “unauthorized storage, reproduction and exploitation” of the songs on various platforms.
The lawsuit claims that because of this, there is now a “diminished value of the copyrights by Defendants’ theft of them, lost profits, and Defendants’ profits attributable to the infringement.”
His company is seeking monetary damages and has asked for the maximum statutory damages, or $150,000 for each song, per platform, which would result in $109,350,000 in damages. Eight Mile Style has also requested a jury trial, according to the report.
Court documents allege that Meta tried to get licenses through Audiam, Inc, a digital royalty collection and payment engine, though Eight Mile Style says it did not give Audiam access.
The lawsuit states that while Meta removed some songs after Eight Mile Style’s earlier complaints, they allegedly “reproduced and stored unauthorized unlicensed copies.”
In comments to The Independent, a Meta spokesperson said, “Meta has licenses with thousands of partners around the world and an extensive global licensing program 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."
