Eminem Settles Ring Tones Lawsuit

By Associated Press

5:34 PM EDT, June 6, 2006

DETROIT - Eminem's publishing companies have settled a lawsuit filed in what they said was an effort to illegally sell the Grammy-winning rapper's songs as cell phone ring tones.

Michigan-based Eight Mile Style and Martin Affiliated filed the lawsuit last October in U.S. District Court against five companies. The lawsuit asked for an order to prohibit the companies from illegally selling Eminem song ring tones on the Internet.

Eminem's representatives reached an undisclosed settlement last week with one of the companies -- Colorado-based Cellus US -- and asked U.S. District Court Judge Gerald E. Rosen to approve the deal, The Detroit News reported Tuesday.

Cellus lawyer Mary Margaret O'Donnell said the company agreed to stop distributing the ring tones, but declined to say whether it had paid any money to settle the lawsuit.

Howard Hertz, a lawyer for Eminem, said illegal Eminem ring tones bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.

"We reached an amicable agreement," he said.

* __

On the Net:

http://www.eminem.com