Battle in Belgium over Eminem song

NEW YORK (Billboard) - A five-year legal controversy over Eminem's 2001 track "Cleanin' Out My Closet" and Belgian violinist Raymond Vincent's 1968 "Daydream" is either nearing an end or about to spark more international litigation.

In the United States, a plaintiff must prove that a defendant had access to the plaintiff's song before a defendant is liable for damages. There may lawfully be songs that are identical to others -- after all, there are a limited number of notes one can use -- as long as they weren't copied from the other songs.

But in Belgium, Brussels-based lawyer Benoit Michaux says, the plaintiff does not have to prove that the defendant actually had access to the plaintiff's song (e.g., heard it) when there are clearly substantial similarities. The law presumes the defendant had access to the song in such a case.

This is where an expert musicologist's opinion can be helpful.

Vincent contacted Belgian authors' and publishers' society SABAM in 2002 saying he believed Eminem's song infringed a portion -- eight out of about 160 measures -- of his song. In May 2003, Vincent applied to SABAM to block royalties for Eminem's song, written by Marshall Mathers (a.k.a. Eminem) and Jeff Bass.

A SABAM committee reviewed Vincent's claim, and the next month wrote to its American counterpart, BMI, as well as to Eminem's Belgian publisher. The letter detailed the committee's opinion of infringement after comparing portions of the two songs.

The letter described "Daydream" as having three different themes: the first was originally composed by Vincent, while the second and the third were composed by Vincent but "inspired by Tchaikovsky." The committee found that a portion of Eminem's song had "flagrant similarities with the first theme," "very similar" harmonic sequences and three measures that included a "bass motif" identical to the melody of the same section of "Daydream."

In 2005, Vincent and BMG Unisong Music Publishing, the Belgian subpublisher for the Eminem song controlled by Joel Martin's Eight Mile Style Music, voluntarily appeared before the Brussels Regional Court. Neither Martin nor Eminem participated. The court adopted the SABAM opinion and rendered a judgment in favor of Vincent