Music and AI: landmark ruling against Suno: ‘It infringes copyright’
The Munich Regional Court has ruled in favour of the German collecting society Gema against the US app worth $5.4 billion
Suno, an artificial intelligence app text-to-music which also allows users with absolutely no musical knowledge to produce a song from a prompt, has infringed copyright and must disclose the unlawful proceeds obtained to the detriment of authors and publishers.
This is set out in the judgement handed down on Friday 31 July in Germany by the Regional Court of Munich in the case brought against Suno by Gema, a German copyright collecting society, which claimed that the American company was not authorised to process copyright-protected material belonging to its rights holders.
According to the judgement, which may be appealed, Suno will have to pay damages, the amount of which has yet to be determined. “This is a judgement of global significance,” comments Gema’s chief executive, Tobias Holzmueller.
Suno has stated its intention to consider all available options, including an appeal. The crux of the matter is that the songs created by Suno often correspond to compositions protected by GEMA in terms of melody, harmony and rhythm, yet the Massachusetts-based company – valued at $5.4 billion in a $400 million funding round held in June – holding the relevant licences.
The German Minister for Culture, Wolfram Weimer, described the ruling as “an important signal in support of creators’ rights in the digital music industry. We need a regulatory framework that fosters innovation and creativity,” he said in a statement.
