News: Eminem sues Kiwi political party in New Zealand just because....

US rapper Eminem is suing a New Zealand political party after it allegedly used his 2002 hit, Lose Yourself, in a TV commercial without permission.

The governing National Party has flatly denied the allegations, which concern a catchy riff in their election TV commercial 'Keep The Team That's Working'.

In a fiery statement, Eminem's publishers Eight Mile Style LLC and Martin Affiliated LLC said they were seeking damages for copyright infringement. 

'Eminem's publishers were not approached for permission to use any of Eminem's songs for this campaign advertisement,' Mr Martin said. 

'It is both disappointing and sadly ironic that the political party responsible for championing the rights of music publishers in New Zealand by the introduction of the 3 strikes copyright reforms should itself have so little regard for copyright.'

The statement continued: 'We do not hesitate to take immediate action to protect the integrity of Eminem's works, particularly where a party, as here, has sought to associate itself with Eminem and his work.' 

Lose Yourself was the theme song for Eminem's biopic 8 Mile. 

But the National Party said their song was sourced from an Australian-based production outfit. 'The National Party will be defending this action vigorously,' a spokesman told AAP.

The party said it was alerted to the copyright infringement complaint two weeks ago and made a compromise to stop using the track. 'However, this has not satisfied the complainant,' the spokesman added.

National Party campaign manager Steve Joyce said the party had gone through the required licensing procedures. 

'We think it's pretty legal, we think these guys are just having a crack and have a bit of an eye for the main chance because it's an election campaign,' he told reporters.  

It is the final week of the country's parliamentary election campaign.

Opinion polls have placed the National Party, led by Prime Minister John Key, firmly in front of the opposition Labour Party, which is headed by David Cunliffe.

The election will be held on Saturday, September 30.

Watch the controversial ad.below and Slim Shady's vid and let us know if they sound alike.