Rapper Eminem’s music publishing company, Eight Mile Style, is suing Meta, the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, for allegedly distributing hundreds of his songs without permission.

His organization filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Mark Zuckerberg’s tech conglomerate on Friday, citing the unauthorized use of over 243 songs owned by the rapper.

According to the lawsuit, Meta failed to secure the necessary licensing to store, distribute and reproduce music from Eight Mile Style’s catalogue.

View image in full screen

“Defendants had no license to store, reproduce, or distribute the infringed works, but have nonetheless created and stored copies of the Infringed Works on their servers, have encouraged their use, and distributed those copies to their billions of users and the general global public,” it says.

Additionally, the lawsuit claims that Meta users have been able to attach 243 songs owned by Eight Mile Style to their posts, arguing that it knowingly permitted their use without a licence, and is therefore guilty of contributory copyright infringement, vicarious copyright infringement and inducement to commit copyright infringement.

“This case involves Meta’s knowing infringement of the Eight Mile Compositions by first reproducing and storing them in Meta’s online Music Libraries, and then distributing them for users to select and incorporate (or “synchronize”) into their own photos and videos made available for public streaming on the users’ WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram,” the lawsuit states.

According to CBS, in 2020, Meta finalized a licence agreement with digital music royalty collection firm Audiam. It failed to obtain an Eight Mile Style licence under the Audiam licence.

In 2019, Eight Mile Style sued Spotify alleging copyright infringement of approximately 250 songs owned by the publisher, including some of Eminem’s biggest hits: Without Me, Stan and My Name Is, among others.

2:07 Meta ditches fact-checking in efforts to maximize free speech, Zuckerberg says

According to the current Meta lawsuit, Eight Mile Style had previously contacted the company regarding the alleged copyright infringement, which has since wiped “several of the Eight Mile compositions from its music libraries,” including hit song Lose Yourself from its library.

A karaoke version of the song, titled Lose Yourself (In the Style of Eminem), a piano instrumental cover titled Lose Yourself Piano Version and a regular cover version by an artist named URock “all remain available as of the date of this complaint,” the filing says.

Eight Mile Style is asking for US$150,000 per song used without permission across each platform where the songs were made available by Meta, “$150,000 per work, times 243 works, times 3 platforms,” the lawsuit states, and a court order prohibiting the company from using its music.

The grand total amount being sought is approximately $109 million USD. Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Mathers, is not a named plaintiff.

In response to the filing, Meta released a statement saying:

“Meta has licenses with thousands of partners around the world and an extensive global licensing program for music on its platforms. Meta had been negotiating in good faith with Eight Mile Style, but rather than continue those discussions, Eight Mile Style chose to sue.”

Bryana “Bana” Bongolan, 33, a friend of Combs’ former longtime girlfriend Cassie Ventura, said the 2016 assault at Ventura’s Los Angeles apartment caused a bruise on the back of her leg, along with back and neck pain. It also left her emotionally scarred, she told the jury.

“I have night terrors and paranoia and I would scream in my sleep sometimes,” said Bongolan, a creative and marketing director who runs her own art agency.

Her testimony came in the fourth week of evidence presentation by prosecutors as they seek to prove that Combs oversaw a racketeering organization composed of his employees and associates as he physically and sexually abused women for two decades.

Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and other charges that, if convicted, could send him to prison for 15 years to life.

Day 15

Bongolan is the latest woman to testify that the hip-hop mogul acted violently toward her and Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, who already testified for four days about the abuse she incurred. Other witnesses described seeing him physically abusing women.

Ventura testified that she saw Combs bring one of her friends back over the railing of a balcony at her apartment in the early morning.

3:11 Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial: Prosecutors release 2016 hotel assault video

Ventura said she was asleep in her room when she awoke to the episode.

“I saw him bring her back over the railing of the balcony and then throw her onto the patio furniture,” Ventura testified.

When Bongolan recalled the attack, she said Combs barged into Ventura’s apartment, lifted her up and put her on the rail. She said she feared that she would plummet to her death as she pushed back against Combs.

“I was scared to fall,” she said. Combs was yelling at her throughout the ordeal, Bongolan said, estimating he held her over the railing for 10 to 15 seconds.

She said Combs then threw her onto balcony furniture. Adrenaline helped her power through the ordeal, Bongolan said. She recalled getting up immediately after being thrown down.

Bongolan said Ventura, who was sleeping in the bedroom, then came out and asked Combs: “Did you just hang her over the balcony?” Told that Bongolan’s ex-girlfriend was also in the apartment, Combs swiftly left, Bongolan said.

3:49 Diddy trial: Ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura fought what ‘only the demon himself could have done’

Bongolan said she has lasting effects from Combs assaulting her.

“I have nightmares and I have a lot of paranoia and I used to scream a lot in my sleep, but it’s dissipated a little bit,” she testified.

Part of her paranoia, she said, includes opening doors carefully and peeking into rooms before going inside, and she added that she had a nightmare as recently as a few days ago.

Bongolan said Combs gave her drugs on three or four occasions, including ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and G, a substance she understood was the depressant GHB.

She said she also did drugs about once a week with Ventura when Combs wasn’t around.

Bongolan, testifying in response to a subpoena from prosecutors, was granted immunity after she initially said she would refuse to answer questions and invoke her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. She was at least the third witness given immunity to testify.

What Combs is on trial for

U.S. prosecutors allege that for 20 years, behind the scenes, Combs was coercing and abusing women with help from a network of associates who helped silence victims through blackmail and violence.

Combs faces an indictment that includes descriptions of “freak-offs,” which are defined in the court doc as “elaborate and produced sex performances that Combs arranged, directed, masturbated during, and often electronically recorded.”

Numerous witnesses have come forward to accuse Combs of terrorizing people into silence by choking, hitting, kicking and dragging them, according to prosecutors. One indictment alleges that Combs dangled someone from a balcony.

1:37 Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs to fight charges with ‘all of his energy’

Although dozens of men and women have alleged in lawsuits that Combs abused them, this trial will highlight the claims of four women.

Combs is charged with sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has denied all the charges against him and has rejected a plea deal, choosing to go to trial instead.

If found guilty in the New York court, he could face life in prison.

—

Day 15 testimony

Day 14 testimony 

Day 13 testimony

Day 12 testimony

Day 11 testimony

—

Global News will be covering the Diddy trial in its entirety. Please check back for updates. 

Sean “Diddy” Combs told a former Los Angeles hotel guard it would ruin his career if a security video of the hip-hop mogul kicking and dragging his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura in 2016 were made public, the security specialist testified Tuesday at Combs’ federal sex trafficking and racketeering trial.

Eddy Garcia, 33, testified to a jury that Combs made the comment repeatedly in March 2016, soon after the attack, as he tried to buy what he hoped was the only copy of the video.

Prosecutors have made the footage from the Intercontinental Hotel a centrepiece of evidence against the Bad Boy Records founder, saying it supports the claims of three women, including Ventura, who allege Combs abused them sexually and physically over the past two decades. They also say Combs’ persistent efforts to hush up the episode fit into allegations that he used threats and his fortune and fame to get what he wanted.

3:11 Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial: Prosecutors release 2016 hotel assault video

Combs has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of an indictment accusing him of a pattern of abuse toward Ventura and others.

Day 15

After the attack, Garcia said, he spoke several times to Combs’ chief-of-staff, Kristina Khorram, telling her he couldn’t show her the recording but “off the record, it’s bad.”

Garcia, who is testifying under an immunity order, said during one phone call she put a “very nervous” sounding Combs on the phone. He “was just saying he had a little too much to drink” and that, as Garcia surely knows, “with women, one thing leads to another and if this got out it would ruin him.”

“He was talking really fast, a lot of stuttering,” Garcia added.

In the evening, Garcia said, he became nervous and scared when Khorram called him at home on his cellphone — a number he had not provided — and put Combs on.

“He stated that I sounded like a good guy,” Garcia testified, adding that Combs again said “something like this could ruin him.”

“He was concerned that this video would get out and that it would ruin his career,” Garcia told the court.

When he told Combs he didn’t have access to the server to obtain the video footage, Combs said he believed Garcia could make it happen and that “he would take care of me,” which Garcia said he took “to mean financially.”

Garcia said he checked with his boss and was told he’d sell the video to Combs for US$50,000.

When he told Combs, he said the music producer “sounded excited.”

“He referred to me as ‘Eddy my angel,'” Garcia said, adding that Combs told him: “I knew you could help. I knew you could do it.”

Within two days of Combs’ attack on Ventura, Garcia delivered a storage device containing the footage to Combs, who paid him $100,000 in cash — feeding bills through a money counter and putting them in a brown paper bag.

Garcia signed a confidentiality and non-disclosure agreement (NDA), shown in court, that required him to pay $1 million if he breached the deal. At the time, he said, he was making $10.50 an hour working hotel security.

Garcia said he signed a declaration swearing that, under the penalty of perjury, there was no other copy of the video.

“He said it had to be the only copy and that he didn’t want it getting out and if I was sure nothing was on the cloud,” Garcia said.

3:49 Diddy trial: Ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura fought what ‘only the demon himself could have done’

He said he signed the papers in an office building with Combs’ bodyguard and Khorram present. Garcia said he didn’t fully read the documents, explaining that he was nervous and “the goal was to get out of there as soon as possible.”

After signing, he said, Combs asked him what he planned to do with the money and advised him not to make any big purchases. Garcia said he took that to mean he shouldn’t do anything that would draw attention.

Garcia said he gave $50,000 to his boss, who had talked about selling the video for profit before Combs intervened, and $20,000 to another security officer. He pocketed $30,000 and used some of it to purchase a used car, he said.

He used cash and, avoiding a further paper trail, never put the money in the bank, he said.

A few weeks later, Garcia said, Combs called him and asked if anyone had inquired about the video. Garcia said no, recounting Combs’ ebullient greeting: “Happy Easter. Eddy, my angel. God is good. God put you in my way for a reason.”

Garcia said that on the call, he asked Combs if the rapper might have future work for him, and Combs sounded receptive. But Combs never responded to his later inquiries, the witness said.

Ex-hotel employee spoke with former colleagues after video resurfaced in 2024

Garcia said that after the video resurfaced in the media in 2024, he reached out to his former colleagues, Israel Florez and Henry Elias.

He said he was contacted by law enforcement in June 2024 about the incident but testified that he wasn’t honest about his involvement.

1:46 Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs ex-girlfriend Cassandra Ventura testifies in his ongoing sex trafficking trial

Garcia added that he deleted his text messages with Florez and Elias after meeting with investigators.

He said he hired legal counsel and met with the government later in 2024 and disclosed that Combs had paid him for the video.

Combs’ former head of finance takes the stand

Derek Ferguson, the former head of the finance department for Combs Enterprises, said he was testifying in compliance with a subpoena.

He said he worked for Combs and his companies from 1998 until 2017 and that he was the chief financial officer at Bad Boy Entertainment from 1998 to 2012.

Ferguson said his responsibilities included accounting, record-keeping and being involved in joint ventures and strategic partnerships. He was also responsible for Combs’ personal finances.

He said that when he first started at the company, he interacted with Combs “a couple times a week” but the interactions became less frequent once he was brought in to run the company.

Ferguson would then report to the company president and when there was no president, he reported directly to Combs.

Prosecutors showed financial records from one of Combs’ bank accounts, which included a $20,000 wire transfer from Ventura’s father on Dec. 23, 2011.

Ventura’s mother previously testified that Combs demanded the family pay $20,000 after he threatened to release explicit sex tapes of her daughter after learning she was dating rapper Kid Cudi.

Prosecutors also noted two other $20,000 transfers that same month, with an outgoing transfer to Ventura on Dec. 14, 2011 and another to an unidentified account on Dec. 27, 2011.

What Combs is on trial for

U.S. prosecutors allege that for 20 years, behind the scenes, Combs was coercing and abusing women with help from a network of associates who helped silence victims through blackmail and violence.

Combs faces an indictment that includes descriptions of “freak-offs,” which are defined in the court doc as “elaborate and produced sex performances that Combs arranged, directed, masturbated during, and often electronically recorded.”

Numerous witnesses have come forward to accuse Combs of terrorizing people into silence by choking, hitting, kicking and dragging them, according to prosecutors. One indictment alleges that Combs dangled someone from a balcony.

1:37 Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs to fight charges with ‘all of his energy’

Although dozens of men and women have alleged in lawsuits that Combs abused them, this trial will highlight the claims of four women.

Combs is charged with sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has denied all the charges against him and has rejected a plea deal, choosing to go to trial instead.

If found guilty in the New York court, he could face life in prison.

—

Day 14 testimony 

Day 13 testimony

Day 12 testimony

Day 11 testimony

Day 10 testimony

—

Global News will be covering the Diddy trial in its entirety. Please check back for updates. 

— with files from The Associated Press