Eminem's Publisher Can Pursue $109 Million Meta Licensing Lawsuit
A judge has ruled that Eight Mile Style, the music publisher representing Eminem's catalog, can proceed with its $109 million direct copyright infringement lawsuit against Meta. The litigation involves allegations that over 200 songs were made available in the music libraries of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp without proper licensing. While the direct infringement claims will move forward, the judge sided with Meta in dismissing Eight Mile Style's secondary infringement claims, which alleged Meta encouraged users to add illegal tracks to their posts. This ruling means Meta will be subjected to an evidence discovery process.
Eminem's music publisher, Eight Mile Style, has received a judicial order allowing it to move forward with a $109 million lawsuit against Meta. The lawsuit centers on allegations of unlicensed songs within the music libraries of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
The Tuesday order, first reported by Billboard, denied Meta’s motion to dismiss the direct copyright infringement claim brought by Eight Mile Style. This decision will subject Meta, the parent company of the social media platforms, to a potentially lengthy and costly evidence discovery process.
Eight Mile Style, which owns 243 compositions including hits like Eminem's "Lose Yourself," filed the lawsuit last year. It alleged that Meta's subsidiaries featured its catalog in their apps' music libraries without a valid license. The publisher is seeking maximum statutory damages of $150,000 per infringement, which, when multiplied by 243 songs across three platforms, totals approximately $109.4 million.
Meta's legal team had previously described the lawsuit as "fanciful" and the damages request as "eye-popping," arguing that the allegations were too general for the case to proceed. However, Judge Brandy R. McMillion disagreed, stating in her decision that the complaint "states enough to plausibly claim infringing acts by Meta."
Judge McMillion wrote that Eight Mile's allegation that Meta placed all 243 works in the music libraries of its three platforms, if accepted as true, could plausibly be construed as an unauthorized reproduction of copyrighted material. The Copyright Act grants owners exclusive rights to reproduce their work, making storage without permission a potential infringement.
Conversely, the judge ruled in favor of Meta regarding Eight Mile Style's secondary infringement claims. These claims sought additional damages based on the theory that Meta not only hosted unlicensed music but also induced billions of individual social media users to incorporate illegal tracks into their posts.
Judge McMillion dismissed these claims, citing Eight Mile Style's failure to provide specific examples of purportedly infringing posts. She also referenced a recent Supreme Court decision concerning major record labels' piracy battle with Cox Communications, which established higher standards for such secondary infringement claims. The judge concluded that while Meta encourages users to utilize its platform tools, this encouragement does not equate to actively inducing copyright infringement, especially when those tools can be used in non-infringing ways.
Eminem himself is not a party to the lawsuit. This is not the first instance of Eight Mile Style pursuing legal action over digital licenses; the publisher previously sued Spotify in 2019, though that case was ultimately dismissed in 2024.
According to Billboard, a lawyer for Eight Mile Style declined to comment on the ruling, and representatives for Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
