Eminem loses iTunes royalty case
Eminem's production company, FBT Productions, has been arguing that their artist is entitled to half of all royalties generated by sales of his music in the iTunes Store. Of course, Apple takes a commission before the artist receives their compensation. FBT's argument hinged upon whether the arrangement constitutes a licensing agreement.
MacNN reports that a Los Angeles jury decided no, iTunes is simply another distribution channel, so Em will not be receiving the $1.47 million he was after. Bummer, dude.
This certainly isn't the first time Eminem's legal team has clashed with Apple's. Back in May of 2005, Apple was forced to pull an iPod ad that featured a young user singing (Rapping? Speaking?) the lyrics to "Lose Yourself." The story at the time was that Eminem refused to give Apple permission to use the song, but they did anyway.
Later that same year, the folks at Lugz footwear had Apple pull an Eminem-approved TV ad that looked a lot like their own. Oops.
