AI music generator Suno has lost the copyright infringement lawsuit brought by German collecting society GEMA.
The collecting society alleged that Suno used, stored and reproduced copyrighted music to train its AI tool without a license or payment to the rightsholders.
Reuters reported on Friday morning (July 31) that the Munich Regional Court found Suno was not entitled to use the music represented by GEMA.
The court also ordered Suno to disclose information about the revenue it has earned and to pay damages, the amount of which has not yet been set, Reuters reported.
The decision, a first-instance ruling, can still be appealed to a higher court, according to Reuters.
GEMA represents the copyrights of around 95,000 members in Germany (composers, lyricists, music publishers) as well as over two million rightsholders worldwide.
GEMA filed its lawsuit against the US-headquartered company at the Munich Regional Court in January 2025.
The org argued that Suno‘s tool generated audio that was, in the collecting society’s words, “misleadingly similar” to originals such as Forever Young, Mambo No. 5 and Daddy Cool.
Suno told MBW in a statement on Friday: “We built Suno around a core belief: to empower everyone to experience the joy of making music. Our tools give people the ability to create new songs, whether they are top artists, product developers, songwriters using our tools in their workflows or everyday music fans. From the beginning, we trained our models to create new songs, not reproduce existing ones, and built protections into our platform.
“We disagree with today’s ruling – which rests on a fundamental mischaracterization of how Suno’s technology works, how it is used and how U.S. law applies — and are evaluating all available options, including an appeal.”
At a hearing in March, GEMA presented evidence that the AI-generated content matched the original compositions in melody, harmony and rhythm.
While GEMA‘s earlier case against OpenAI concerned song lyrics, the Suno case dealt with what the society calls its “core business”, the licensing of playable music tracks.
GEMA has said it wants AI developers to license its repertoire and pay the authors it represents.
When it brought the case, GEMA CEO Tobias Holzmüller said the market for generative AI had “so far lacked basic principles such as transparency, fairness and respect”.
Friday’s decision follows a separate win for GEMA at the same court, which ruled largely in its favor against OpenAI in November 2025 over ChatGPT’s use of German song lyrics.
The OpenAI ruling was the first time a European court had found in favor of creators whose works were used by a generative AI system.
Both cases were heard by the Munich court’s 42nd Civil Chamber, which specializes in copyright.
Suno is defending copyright claims in several other cases.
The RIAA, acting for Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group, sued Suno and rival AI music generator Udio in June 2024, alleging “mass infringement” of copyright.
Warner Music Group settled its case with Suno in November 2025 and struck a licensing partnership with the company, which also acquired Warner‘s Songkick platform as part of the deal.
Suno remains in litigation with Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment, while Udio has settled with both UMG and Warner.
Suno also faces a separate copyright claim in Europe from Denmark’s collecting society Koda.
Suno raised over $400 million in a Series D round in June that valued the company at $5.4 billion.
The company said in February that it had surpassed 2 million paid subscribers and was on pace for $300 million in annual revenue.
The company has said more than 100 million people have used its platform.
More than 1,800 artists are supporting class-action lawsuits against Suno and Udio, according to Reuters.Music Business Worldwide
