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A German court says Suno illegally trained its model on unlicensed songs administered by the country’s PRO — one of the first major legal blows to an AI music company amid worldwide copyright infringement litigation.

The Friday (July 31) ruling out of Munich Regional Court is a seminal victory for GEMA, the German collection society for performance royalties. The organization sued Suno at the beginning of 2025 for allegedly infringing well-known German compositions including Boney M.’s “Rasputin,” Alphaville’s “Forever Young” and Lou Bega’s “Mambo No. 5.”

According to Reuters, the Munich court held that Suno did not have the right under the country’s copyright laws to feed German-owned compositions into its popular AI model without compensation. The court ordered financial damages, although these have not yet been quantified, and the ruling is appealable. Reps for both GEMA and Suno confirmed the substance of the decision in statements on Friday.

“The court made it clear today: AI models based on the theft of intellectual property are not protected by law,” said GEMA’s CEO, Tobias Holzmüller. “AI providers must acquire licenses and may not use the works of our members free of charge. In doing so, the court has significantly strengthened Europe’s position as a cultural hub. If systems are operated in Europe, legal action can also be taken in European courts. This is crucial for the enforcement of the law.” 

Suno said, “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.”

“We built Suno around a core belief: to empower everyone to experience the joy of making music,” added Suno. “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.”

GEMA initiated the German case against Suno seven months after the three major record label groups — Universal Music Group (UMG), Warner Music Group (WMG) and Sony Music — teamed up to sue both Suno and its rival Udio in the U.S. for copyright infringement in 2024. The two cases are markedly different; GEMA’s claims are focused on compositions, while the major label groups are suing over sound recordings.

Europe and the U.S. also operate under very different copyright laws, meaning the two lawsuits won’t necessarily have the same outcomes. In the U.S., Suno (and Udio) have maintained that their AI training processes are widely protected under the American legal principle of fair use.

WMG settled its claims against Suno by inking a licensing agreement at the end of last year, while both WMG and UMG have similar deals in place with Udio. But Sony Music and UMG are still pursuing claims against Suno, and Sony Music remains in active litigation with Udio. Those cases remain in the evidence discovery phase, meaning it’ll be months before judges issue any rulings on the merits.

Meanwhile, GEMA also sued ChatGPT maker OpenAI two years ago for allegedly infringing the lyrics in its song portfolio. The Munich Regional Court ruled in GEMA’s favor in that case this past November.

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