Sue Yourself

[jca]

Eight Mile Style, hip-hop rapper Eminem's music publishing company, is suing Apple over the apparently illegial use of the song "Lose Yourself" in an ad for iTunes in 2003. The ad campaign depicted music lovers singing the words to their favorite song, such as the humorous rendition of "Baby Got Back" while listening to an iPod. The ad in question featured an impressive lip-sync version of Eminem's song by a 10-year-old boy named Jacob. Also being sued by Eight Mile Style: MTV and Viacom (for airing the ad) and TBWA/Chiat/Day (the ad agency responsible for creating the campaign). According to the suit, if Eminem endorsed anything commercially, he'd ask for "a significant amount of money, possibly in excess of $10 million."

Apple, the company that encourages legal MP3 file downloading through their popular iTunes service, was issued the lawsuit on Friday. The suit seems timed to coincide with Apple's release for their latest MP3 device, the iPod Mini.