Eminem settled a lawsuit with one of five companies he sued to stop illegal use of ringtones of some of his biggest hits.
Colorado-based Cellus US, as part of the settlement which U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen in Detroit must approve, has agreed to stop using the ringtones or selling them over the Internet. Because the agreement provisions are confidential, it is not know if there are any monetary damages being paid to Eminem.
With ringtones being one of the few bright spots and growth areas of the music industry, they are beginning to fight the illegal activity. Jupiter Research recently revealed that in 2004 ringtones took in $217 million and is estimated to grow to $724 million by 2009. Even Billboard magazine has added a ringtone chart.
Also included in Eminem's lawsuit were ringtone makers FanMobile, Nextones.com, MyPhoneFiles and MatrixM LLC.
Oddly, Nextones, has neglected to respond to the suit and the judge consequently entered a default judgment of $195,000. Eminem's attorey Howard Hertz says that they will seek to collect the payment. Others named in the suit are trying to negotiate a licensing agreement with Eminem's publishing firm.
He is moving up the release of two albums to help to battle the piracy.
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