Detroit charities have emerged as the victor in a dispute between Audi AG and Eight Mile Style LLC, the company that licenses Detroit rapper Eminem’s songs, after the German automaker released a commercial in May that appeared to rip off of Eminem’s now iconic “Imported from Detroit” Chrysler spot.

“Audi has tremendous respect for Eminem and his works, and likewise for the ‘Imported from Detroit’ campaign which was created by Chrysler, and certainly Audi would never wish to insult or harm those parties or their fans and customers,” the German automaker said today in a statement.

Terms of the settlement weren’t released, but as part of the agreement — which both parties said was reached “amicably” — Audi said it would “support the revitalization of Detroit by contributing to selected social projects.”

Audi didn’t specify which organizations would benefit, but Joel Martin, principal of Eight Mile Style, told the Detroit Free Press that an Imported from Detroit project “will be announced soon.”

“Just like ‘Imported from Detroit’ helped benefit charities like the Marshall Mathers Foundation, we as Eminem’s publisher can give back to Detroit,” Martin said, according to the Free Press. “We’re looking forward to working with Chrysler on several new ‘Imported from Detroit’ initiatives that will benefit the city of Detroit as well as charities within the city.”

In the statement, Audi said that “the recognition of the Intellectual Property Rights of third parties is a very important part of Audi’s corporate philosophy.”

An Audi spokesman wasn’t immediately available for comment.

The commercial shows a man driving the A6 Avant around the darkened streets of a German city. The camera zooms in on the driver and then pans to the passing cityscape. A guitar riff — that sounds awfully similar to Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” — plays menacingly in the background.

The controversial Audi spot debuted at a May 18 press event in Berlin and proceeded to go viral online. The commercial never aired in the United States, but one copy of the commercial uploaded to YouTube had over 2 million views as of this morning.

However, at least one other version of the video was removed from YouTube because of “a copyright claim by Audi AG.”

In May, an Audi spokesman told Automotive News that the company had no plans to sell the A6 Avant in the United States.

From Automotive News