Eminem made the recordings as an unknown teenager

The Source magazine was held in contempt of court by U.S. District Judge Gerard Lynch after it disregarded his ruling in December 2003.

The ruling prohibited The Source from reprinting lyrics or full recordings of two controversial songs by the rapper.

Both were made available on The Source website. They were removed in January.

'Racist'

The magazine claimed some of the material, recorded by Eminem when he was a teenager, was offensive to black women and accused the rap star of racism.

Eminem, who made the previously unreleased recordings in 1988, apologised for the "foolish" lyrics in November last year.

He claimed it was an immature reaction to breaking up with a black girlfriend: "I reacted like the angry, stupid kid I was. I hope people will take it for the foolishness that it was."

Eminem recently starred at the MTV Movie Awards with his band D12

In December, Judge Lynch said limited reproduction of the recording fell within the magazine's right to "fair use" of copyrighted material for the purpose of criticism.

He said he would allow the magazine to reprint up to eight lines from the material. One of the two tracks lasts more than five minutes.

'Copyright'

However, when the lyrics and recordings were made available in full on The Source's website, Eminem sued the magazine for copyright infringement.

On Thursday, Judge Lynch dismissed a countersuit filed by The Source against Eminem's record label Shady Records in which the magazine claimed it held the rights to the songs.

He ordered The Source to pay the legal fees of both Eminem and his label Shady Records, but denied Shady Records' request to further penalise the magazine.

The wrangle appears part of an ongoing feud between Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Mathers, and Raymond Scott, co-founder of The Source.

Scott, who also is a rapper, has released several recordings attacking Eminem - who has responded in kind.