New Zealand ordered to pay Eminem damages

A New Zealand political party has been ordered to pay NZ$600,000 ($412,000) in compensation in a breach of copyright suit filed by US rapper Eminem.

The National Party used a track with a similar melody and rhythm to Eminem's Lose Yourself in an election advert.

The song, entitled Eminem-esque, bore only minimal differences to the original, according to a court ruling, BBC News reports.

The case, which began in May, is the latest to test the legality of so-called sound-alike music.

Eminem's music publisher, Eight Mile Style, filed proceedings after the National Party used an unlicensed version of the Oscar-winning song in a 2014 campaign advert.

The party's lawyers had argued that the track used was not actually Lose Yourself, but a song called Eminem-esque, which they bought from a stock music library.

However the court ruled on Wednesday that the track was "sufficiently similar" to Eminem's "highly original work", adding that it did indeed infringe copyright laws.