The Pop Corporation

You can almost hear the knuckleheads saying ‘how is A.I. learning from all the music ever made any different to humans listening to music and learning from it?’, but, A.I. music scraper/generator Suno has lost a copyright case against German licensing firm GEMA.

Back in 2025, GEMA filed an infringement case, saying that Suno was using songs from their portfolio, including Boney M’s ‘Daddy Cool’ and Lou Bega’s ‘Mambo No. 5’. They said that Suno were training their A.I. models on their songs, and they had not obtained any licenses or paid the songwriters for the privilege.

Well, late last month, the Munich Regional Court ruled that Suno had indeed unlawfully obtained, processed and reproduced music and found that Suno’s use of the songs was in breach of both the German and US copyright law.

This means Suno will now have to cough up and pay damages, although we aren’t aware how much this will total. What it does mean though, is that A.I. companies must now pay to license any music from GEMA’s repertoire from now on, and indeed, you’ll assume that this sets a precedence for other rights holders who fancy making this legal.

“Today, the Chamber made one thing crystal clear: AI models built on stolen intellectual property have no protection under the law,” said GEMA’s CEO Dr Tobias Holzmüller adding; “AI service providers must pay for licenses rather than helping themselves to our members’ works free of charge. Today, the court’s verdict has significantly strengthened Europe’s position as a cultural centre.” (via Reuters).

GEMA Board chairman Dr Ralf Weigand continued: “This ruling sends a powerful international message: creativity has value, and creators’ rights must be respected in the age of artificial intelligence. Through this decision, GEMA has set an important precedent not only for its more than 100,000 members, but for creators worldwide. The fact that we can now enforce our rights in countries including the United States gives creators hope and confidence at a time of profound technological transformation.”

Of course, Suno will be appealing this, as this is very much a case of the Suits Versus Suits, so this could drag on for a while.

However, we’ve seen courts ruling against A.I. companies, as last year, GEMA were ruled in favour against OpenAI for violating European copyright laws. The year before that, Sony, Universal and Warners won a case against Suno, but ended up using the experience to sign a deal with the A.I. operator.

This, it seems, will rumble on.