Frankfurt Court upholds copyright for lyrics despite AI use

The Higher Regional Court (OLG) of Frankfurt am Main has ruled that a song lyric is protected by copyright, even if an artificial intelligence system was used during the subsequent production process. The court granted the plaintiff injunction claims against the unauthorized use of the text.

The dispute arose after the plaintiff's partner released a song on the DistroKid platform using the AI system ‘Suno-AI’ to produce the music. The plaintiff asserted that she had personally written the original lyrics. A defendant later released two versions of the song on Spotify, with the artist acknowledging that the song did not belong to her.

The defendant argued that the lyrics were generated by AI rather than the plaintiff. However, the court's 11th Civil Senate determined that if it can be convincingly demonstrated that the ‘raw version’ of a work was created through original human creativity, the subsequent use of AI for the published version does not negate copyright protection, provided essential creative elements remain.