New Zealand's Supreme Court has given a small victory to the National Party in its years-long legal stoush with rapper Eminem's company.
Eight Mile Style and Martin Affiliated has had its leave to appeal a ruling declined and now must pay National costs of $4500 "plus usual disbursements".
The companies, which co-own the copyright to the track 'Lose Yourself', had sought an appeal to try and get more money out of the political party, which was initially ordered to hand over $600,000, but had the figure reduced to $225,000 in the Court of Appeal.
While National will be chuffed with that Eight Mile's attempt to appeal at the Supreme Court has been denied, it doesn't mean that its using a track called 'Eminem Esque' in a 2014 campaign ad was "pretty legal", as once labelled by National's campaign manager, Steven Joyce, in 2014.
It just means that it doesn't have to pay out as much.
Eight Mile argued that the Court of Appeal showed a "preference" for National Party experts rather than its own, and hence unfairly arrived at the sum of $225,000.
But the Supreme Court disagrees.
"We have considered these points carefully but we are not persuaded that they are matters of public importance or general commercial significance that would justify a further appeal," reads the Supreme Court's ruling.
"In most cases, they are fact-specific and we do not see any appearance of a miscarriage of justice arising from the way they were addressed by the Court of Appeal."
Eminem himself said he would donate any money he won from the case to hurricane victims in the US.
Newshub.
