“Eminem’s music publisher filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against Apple Computer Inc. on Monday, alleging the computer giant violated copyrights by allowing unauthorized downloads of the Detroit rapper’s songs onto iPods.

The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit is the latest move by Eminem’s music publishers to aggressively protect the rights to his music.

A top California entertainment lawyer, Owen Sloane of Berger Kahn, said the Eminem lawsuit is likely a sign of more to come in the music industry as artists and those with the rights to their compositions fight for a bigger share of revenues from the burgeoning music download industry.

A “burning issue” in the music industry today is whether the rights record labels hold to sell a recording artist’s CDs include the rights to authorize music downloads, or whether further permission is needed from the music publishers who hold the copyrights to the lyrics and sheet music.”

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