Rap superstar Eminem's publishing company, Eight Mile Style and Martin Affiliated, has filed a lawsuit to stop his songs from being used as cell phone ring tones.

Filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit Tuesday, the publishing company representing Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Mathers III, is seeking a court order to prohibit five companies from selling his song ring tones on the Internet.

"This is a big business. We're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars a year," said Howard Hertz, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs. "We're going to be going after any ring tones or karaoke companies who use his songs without getting the proper licenses."

The companies named in the suit are Colorado-based Cellus USA, Georgia-based FanMobile, New York-based Nextones.com, New Jersey-based MyPhoneFiles and New Jersey-based MatrixM LLC.

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