German court rules Suno violated copyright in AI music case
The Munich Regional Court (Landgericht München I) largely sided with the music‑rights collective GEMA, finding that U.S. AI music service Suno Inc. used six protected German songs for training its generative model without permission. The court held that the AI had memorised the works, constituting an unlawful reproduction, and ordered Suno to cease using the songs for both training and output, to disclose any illicit revenue and to pay damages, the amount of which has not yet been set.
The six works at issue are “Atemlos”, “Daddy Cool”, “Mambo No. 5”, “Big in Japan”, “Forever Young” and “Rasputin”. The ruling is not yet final and Suno may appeal. Legal experts say the decision could reshape how AI developers source training data across Europe.
Entities: Atemlos (song) · GEMA · GEMA (Gesellschaft für musikalische Aufführungs‑rechte) · German music creators · Judge Elke Schwager · Kai Welp · Landgericht München I · Landgericht München I (Munich Regional Court) · OpenAI · Suno · Suno Inc.
Claims
What the coverage asserts, and how well corroborated each claim is across sources.
- [● 18 SOURCES] The court also prohibited Suno from using the copyrighted songs for AI training. (supporting_article_ids)
- [● 25 SOURCES] The judgment is not yet final and can be appealed. (clm_9f9076bf-4941-48bf-82a8-8f13d4dc648a)
- [DISPUTED] Suno maintains that its AI model does not store the original songs. (supporting_article_ids)
- [DISPUTED] GEMA alleges Suno’s AI memorised the original songs, effectively storing them. (clm_a512f034-3731-49cf-b075-14dfb595c45a)
- [● 25 SOURCES] The court ordered Suno to stop reproducing copyrighted works without GEMA's permission. (clm_77040406-3f74-4cc0-9410-13abb33f33af)
- [● 18 SOURCES] The court examined whether liability for infringement rests with Suno or with users of its tool. (supporting_article_ids)
- [● 18 SOURCES] The case is reminiscent of an earlier GEMA lawsuit against OpenAI over similar AI‑generated copyright issues. (supporting_article_ids)
- [● 25 SOURCES] The six songs involved are “Atemlos”, “Daddy Cool”, “Mambo No. 5”, “Big in Japan”, “Forever Young”, and “Rasputin”. (clm_e6d79104-87d1-4816-ae67-de28458ce205)
- [● 8 SOURCES] GEMA initiated the lawsuit against Suno. (GEMA sued Suno in January 2025.)
- [● 2 SOURCES] The six songs involved were “Atemlos”, “Daddy Cool”, “Mambo No. 5”, “Big in Japan”, “Forever Young” and “Rasputin”. (GEMA)
- [● 7 SOURCES] The Munich Regional Court ruled that Suno used six copyrighted songs without permission for training its AI model. (The court found Suno used six protected compositions for AI training.)
- [● 19 SOURCES] Judge Elke Schwager presided over the case. (clm_01cca2f8-e855-4395-b897-e7636dd79f0e)