SOCAN sues AI music generator Suno for copyright infringement

SOCAN, a Canadian music rights organization, has filed a lawsuit in federal court against the AI music generation platform Suno, alleging widespread copyright infringement. The organization claims that Suno has unlawfully used the works of its members to generate outputs without consent or compensation.

SOCAN has presented a subset of 150 AI-generated outputs that allegedly infringe upon the material of its rightsholders. The lawsuit highlights instances where Suno-generated clips reportedly mimic popular songs by Canadian artists, including Tom Cochrane’s ‘Life is a Highway’ and Avril Lavigne’s ‘Sk8er Boi,’ nearly note-for-note and word-for-word.

Through the legal action, SOCAN is seeking to compel Suno to comply with copyright laws, cease making infringing outputs available, and pay damages, including a portion of the profits derived from the disputed songs. SOCAN’s leadership stated that the move is necessary to ensure human creativity is valued and that AI services face consequences for using music without permission.