Meta Pushes to Throw Out $110M Eminem Copyright Lawsuit

Meta filed papers on September 18 seeking dismissal of a $110 million copyright suit from Eminem's publisher, Eight Mile Style (EMS), which owns rights to 243 Eminem songs. EMS alleges that Meta's various social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) hosted unlicensed versions of some of Eminem's songs, such as "Lose Yourself."

The suit aims for the maximum penalty — $150,000 per claimed violation across all three platforms — adding up to an eye-popping $109.4 million.

But Meta's legal team struck back at the claims, ripping into the lack of specific violations cited in the suit. "Fanciful estimates are not a substitute for well-pleaded facts," Meta's lawyers wrote in court documents filed with the federal judge. "It's not enough to claim that unidentified compositions were infringed somewhere on Meta's services at some unknown time; without a modicum of support identifying any — let alone ‘rampant' — user infringement, Eight Mile's secondary infringement claims cannot get off the ground."

Meta's defense stands firm on a 2020 deal with Audiam, a digital rights firm, that it alleges granted Meta the licenses to Eminem's body of work. 

At the heart of the suit is a clash over what really occurred in 2020. While EMS claims Audiam lacked authority to sign over Eminem's work, an Audiam representative told Meta at the time of the original agreement that Audiam was authorized to represent EMS in its negotiations with Meta.

This isn't EMS's first time in court over music rights.

Eminem himself is staying out of this fight — he owns no stake in EMS, with the suit being brought by the Bass brothers, owners of the publishing company and much of the rapper's early work.

Meta's team hammered one point home: the suit lacks basic facts about who did what and when. Now, a judge must weigh whether EMS's claims hold enough water to proceed.