German songwriter collecting society GEMA has won a significant ruling against AI music company Suno in the Munich Regional Court, Complete Music Update reported. Judges sided with GEMA on all three of its claims: that Suno copied GEMA-controlled works while building its US training database, that it stored a version of the finished model on servers in Germany that effectively contained the training data through what the court calls "memorisation," and that it output music nearly identical to GEMA compositions.
The memorisation finding did much of the legal work. GEMA's team got Suno to output music resembling existing songs like "Mambo No. 5" and "Daddy Cool" through a series of complex, repeatedly refined prompts, and the court's summary explains that "memorisation was established" by comparing the training data against the outputs, ruling that coincidence could be excluded given the complexity of the works involved.
As a result, Suno must stop reproducing the six specific works the case centered on, provide GEMA with information about how the infringed works were used, account for revenue generated, and pay damages. Because the court's reasoning applies to any GEMA-controlled work in Suno's training data, not just the six tested in court, the practical effect is that Suno needs a license to use GEMA's repertoire at all going forward.
GEMA CEO Tobias Holzmuller called the ruling proof that "AI models built on stolen IP have no protection under the law" in Europe. The Ivors Academy, which represents UK and Irish songwriters, also welcomed the decision, with chair Tom Gray thanking GEMA for "putting their money and resources into this important victory for songwriters and composers."
Suno has pushed back, arguing the German judges misunderstood both its technology and how US copyright law applies, and the ruling is a first-instance decision expected to be appealed. It follows GEMA's earlier win in a separate case against OpenAI over ChatGPT's use of lyrics, and lands the same week as major labels proposed their own rules for AI on the music charts.
The facts
- A Munich court ruled Suno infringed GEMA's copyrights on all three claims brought against it
- Suno must stop reproducing six specific works and pay damages
- The ruling effectively means Suno needs a license to use GEMA's repertoire
- Suno says it will appeal the first-instance decision
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