Legal troubles

Legal troubles

In 1999, Eminem's mother Debbie sued him for around US$10 million over his alleged slander of her in lyrics on The Slim Shady LP; she won about US$1,600 in damages in 2001.

Eminem was arrested on June 3, 2000 during an altercation with Douglas Dail at a car audio store in Royal Oak, Michigan, where he pulled out an unloaded gun and kept it pointed at the ground. The following day, in Warren, Michigan, he allegedly saw his then wife, Kim, kiss bouncer John Guerrera in the parking lot of the Hot Rock Café, resulting in Eminem assaulting the bouncer and then being arrested. Eminem recreated the Guerrera assault in a skit on his fourth album The Eminem Show on a track called "The Kiss (Skit)". Eminem was charged with possession of a concealed weapon and assault. He plead guilty to the charges and was given two years probation for both episodes.

On July 7, 2000, Eminem's then-wife, Kim Scott, attempted suicide by slashing her wrists. Kim sued Eminem for defamation after he depicted her violent death in his song "Kim".

On October 26, 2000, Eminem was to perform at a concert in Toronto's Skydome. However, Ontario Attorney General Jim Flaherty argued that Canada should stop Eminem at the border. "I personally don't want anyone coming to Canada who will come here and advocate violence against women," he said. Flaherty claims to have been "disgusted" when reading transcriptions of Eminem's song "Kill You", which includes lines such as "Slut, you think I won't choke no whore / till the vocal cords don't work in her throat no more?" The opinion of the general public to the requests made by the province were negative. Others said the issue was one of free speech. Liberal MPP Michael Bryant suggested that the government lay hate crime charges against Eminem for the advocacy of violence against women found in his lyrics. In a The Globe and Mail editorial, author Robert Everett-Green wrote, "Being offensive is Eminem's job description." Eminem's Toronto concert went on as planned that night.

D'Angelo Bailey, a sanitation worker, sued Eminem in 2001 and accused him of invading his privacy by publicizing (in the song “Brain Damage”) unreasonable information that put him in a false light. Bailey admitted that he picked on Eminem but said he merely "bumped" him at school and threw a "little shove." On October 20, 2003, the charges were dismissed in court.

On June 28, 2001, Eminem was sentenced to one year probation on weapons charges that stemmed from an argument with an employee of Psychopathic Records, assessing him a fine around $2,000 as well as several hours of community service.

On March 31, 2002, French jazz pianist Jacques Loussier filed a $10 million lawsuit against Eminem and Dr. Dre, claiming the beat for "Kill You" was stolen from his song. Loussier demanded that all sales of the album be halted and any remaining copies destroyed. A trial date was set to begin in June 2004. The case was later settled.

On December 8, 2003, the United States Secret Service admitted it was "looking into" allegations that Eminem had threatened the President of the United States, George W. Bush, after the song "We as Americans", as an unreleased bootleg, circulated with the lyrics "Fuck money, I don't rap for dead presidents. I'd rather see the president dead, it's never been said but I set precedents." The incident was later referenced in the video for his song "Mosh" as one of several news clips on a wall, along with other newspaper articles about other unfortunate incidents in Bush's career. The song eventually appeared on the album's bonus disc, where the lyrics were extensively censored.

In 2005, Eminem's aunt and uncle, Jack and Betty Schmitt, sued him, alleging that he has promised them a $350,000 house and the money to keep it up, and instead has kept it in his name and tried to evict them.

In 2007, his music publishing company, Eight Mile Style LLC, together with Martin Affiliated LLC, filed suit against Apple Inc. and Aftermath Entertainment claiming Aftermath did not have the appropriate authority to negotiate a deal with Apple for digital downloads of 93 Eminem songs on Apple's iTunes service. The case against Apple was settled shortly after trial began in late September 2009.

In July 2010, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in F.B.T. Productions, LLC v. Aftermath Records that F.B.T. Productions and Eminem were owed a royalty of 50% of the net revenue Aftermath obtained by licensing Eminem's recordings to companies like Apple Inc., Sprint, Nextel, Cingular, and T-Mobile. In March 2011 the Supreme Court of the United States upheld this ruling.