Eminem's music publisher Eight Mile Style has filed a federal lawsuit against Apple, claiming that the company is selling the white rapper’s songs without permission.

Therefore, Eight Mile Style requested more than USD 75,000 for copyright infringement, unfair competition and a violation of the Michigan consumer protection act.

In fact the things are a little more complicated.  Apple has an agreement with Universal Music Group, but Eminem's copyright manager, Martin Affiliated, who is also part in the lawsuit, said that he and Eight Mile Style have not authorized the downloads.

"Eight Mile and Martin have demanded that Apple cease and desist its reproduction and distribution and Apple has refused," the complaint state

The suit also asks for damages of up to USD 150,000 per infringement — or each time a song is downloaded. Considering that the suit involves 70 to 80 songs there are a lot of money involved.

Although Apple didn’t disclosed the financial terms of its deals with the music publishers, it is believed that 70 cents from 99 (the price tag of a song on iTunes) are going to the record companies. From those 70 cents, only 9.1 are paid as fees directly to the publisher.

For the Detroit rapper this is the second lawsuit filed against Apple. In 2004, Eminem sued Apple for copyright infringement, after his hit song “Loose Yourself” was used in a promotional clip for iTunes. The case was settled outside the court for an undisclosed sum of money.