http://www.dmeurope.com/default.asp?ArticleID=1916
A court in the Hague ruled in favour of Eminem in a case the popular 28-year-old American rap and hip-hop artist brought against Ramshorn BV, a Dutch online company.
Ramshorn, whose website offers cheap and ‘rare’ CDs by artists like Eminem, was charged with copyright and trademark violations.
Cases cited included the CDs Eminem is Back and All Stars Eminem – The Greatest Hits.
The first contains tracks that had been rejected for release. The other has a misleading title – considering that it only contains covers of Eminem’s songs. All of this was done without the artist’s approval, the court was told.
In addition to immediately ending the sale of the illegal Eminem CDs, Ramshorn was also ordered by the court to place a rectification notice on the company’s website.
Furthermore, the retailer was required to send, within seven days, a letter to all its clients who had purchased the CDs, stating the court’s decision and requesting that they return the CDs (for which clients would receive back the original price, plus postage).
Failure to comply could result in a daily fine of ‘25,000, and ‘7,500 for each breach of a series of restrictions stipulated by the court.
“We won on just about every point,” said the Dutch lawyer for Eminem.
Ramshorn is reviewing its options. “The company sells CDs through the internet, just like other record shops. However, we first need to further study the verdict,” said the lawyer for the defense.