A Munich court has ruled that AI music service Suno infringed copyright by training its models on protected musical works, granting German collecting society GEMA injunctive relief, disclosure, and damages.
The Ruling
The 42nd Civil Chamber of the Munich I Regional Court, presided over by Judge Elke Schwager, found that Suno’s models versions v3.5 and v4 reproducibly contained six musical works, including “Rasputin,” “Daddy Cool,” and “Mambo No. 5.” GEMA had submitted audio outputs generated by entering lyrics, a musical style, and the song title into Suno’s prompt interface.
“The court is convinced that the musical pieces in question are reproducibly contained in the defendant’s models, versions v3.5 and v4. These models were stored on servers in Germany,” the court’s press release stated.
The ruling confirmed that training data can be memorized within AI models and extracted as outputs. The court said the complexity and length of the pieces ruled out randomness as the cause of their reproduction.
This constitutes an infringement of the reproduction right under German copyright law. By playing the infringing outputs in Germany, Suno unlawfully reproduced and publicly performed the works. The court also held that merely offering the model and using it to generate music infringes the unnamed right of public performance.
Remedies and Next Steps
The court granted GEMA’s claims for injunctive relief, effectively ordering Suno to cease the infringing activities, as well as disclosure of information to calculate damages. Suno has the right to appeal the decision to a higher court, and its statement indicates it may do so.
GEMA’s Response
Dr. Tobias Holzmüller, CEO of GEMA, said the ruling strengthens Europe’s position as a cultural hub and makes clear that AI providers must obtain licenses.
“Human creativity is the foundation of all generative AI. Without humans, artificial intelligence is nothing. The court made it clear today: AI models based on the theft of intellectual property are not protected by law,” Holzmüller said. “AI providers must acquire licenses and may not use the works of our members free of charge. If systems are operated in Europe, legal action can also be taken in European courts. This is crucial for the enforcement of the law.”
Dr. Kai Welp, GEMA’s general counsel, added that the ability to file lawsuits in Munich regardless of where training takes place is encouraging, but that European legislators’ support will be needed to prevent providers from relocating to countries with unfavorable copyright laws.
Suno’s Statement
Suno disputed the ruling, saying it mischaracterizes how its technology works and how US law applies.
“We built Suno around a core belief: to empower everyone to experience the joy of making music. Our tools give people the ability to create new songs, whether they are top artists, product developers, songwriters using our tools in their workflows or everyday music fans,” a spokesperson said. “From the beginning, we trained our models to create new songs, not reproduce existing ones, and built protections into our platform. We disagree with today’s ruling and are evaluating all available options, including an appeal.”
Earlier Precedent
In November 2024, the same court and judge ruled that OpenAI violated copyright by using song lyrics to train ChatGPT. That decision addressed the distinction between analysis and memorization, a concept the court also applied in the Suno case.
