GEMA has achieved another landmark victory in its legal dispute with SUNO, a U.S. provider of AI-generated audio content. The Munich Regional Court has ruled that by training its AI systems on world-famous songs from GEMA’s repertoire in the USA, and also by storing and reproducing them in Europe, SUNO is in breach of both U.S. and German copyright legislation. Thus the court has agreed with GEMA’s contention: that both the exploitation and reproduction of musical works from the GEMA repertoire require a licence, and that AI service providers must pay the creators appropriate remuneration. The ruling marks GEMA’s second legal victory in proceedings against providers of AI tools and services. Back in November 2025, the Regional Court also ruled in GEMA’s favour in a lawsuit brought against OpenAI.
GEMA filed the case against SUNO with the Munich Regional Court on January 21, 2025, aiming to assert the right of its members to be remunerated for the use of their works. SUNO had not responded to repeated requests to license the works concerned. Using simple commands (prompts), SUNO’s generative AI enables users to generate playable audio content so similar as to be indistinguishable from such original songs as “Forever Young”, “Atemlos”, “Mambo No. 5”, “Rasputin”, “Big in Japan” and “Daddy Cool”. Prior to the lawsuit, SUNO admitted that the company had trained its systems on these and other GEMA works without paying licence fees, but has consistently disputed the obligation to pay such fees. The Munich Regional Court’s 42nd Chamber firmly rejected this argument. GEMA was also able to show that the system stores and outputs content that in terms of melody, harmony and rhythm largely matches these world-famous works. Here too, the court concurred with GEMA’s assertion that SUNO should be obliged to pay licence fees for the systematic use of GEMA’s repertoire and its commercial exploitation.
SUNO itself follows a for-profit business model and charges subscription fees to users of its premium AI services. This is also the first time that a European court has ruled on the training of AI systems in the USA. The Regional Court confirmed that even under U.S. copyright law, AI service providers are required to obtain appropriate licences from GEMA.
Dr Tobias Holzmüller, CEO of GEMA, had this to say about the ruling: “All generative AI is based on human creativity; artificial intelligence is nothing without humans. "Today, the Chamber made one thing crystal clear: AI models built on stolen intellectual property have no protection under the law. AI service providers must pay for licences 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. When AI service providers operate their systems in Europe, claims can be brought against them in European courts. This is vital for proper enforcement of the law.”
Dr Kai Welp, General Counsel for GEMA, added: “It’s astonishing that AI systems are clearly storing significant quantities of almost complete works, something we were able to substantiate in the course of our proceedings. What’s more, recent academic literature suggests that this is just the tip of the iceberg. It’s also very encouraging to see the court take a stance on the legal position in the USA, so that we were able to bring our legal action in Munich regardless of where the actual AI training took place. For creators, this is a truly significant milestone. However, to assert our rights effectively and prevent AI service providers from relocating to countries where copyright is not respected, we also need the support of European lawmakers.”
Dr Ralf Weigand, Chairman of GEMA’s Supervisory Board, said: "Today is a landmark day for music creators around the world. 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.”
Earlier, in November 2025, GEMA won a lawsuit against OpenAI following a ruling by the Munich Regional Court. The court confirmed that OpenAI was storing and reproducing copyright-protected song lyrics belonging to GEMA members without obtaining the relevant licences or paying any remuneration to the authors of the works used. OpenAI has lodged an appeal against the ruling with the Munich Higher Regional Court. With its current lawsuit against SUNO, GEMA has now extended its legal action to cover its core activity, namely the licensing of playable music tracks. In the USA, SUNO’s AI tool is already the subject of a lawsuit brought by the music industry; in Europe, on the other hand, GEMA’s lawsuit is the first to be brought against a leading provider of AI music tools.
In Germany, GEMA represents the copyright interests of more than 100,000 members (composers, lyricists and music publishers), as well as over two million owners of intellectual property rights worldwide. GEMA is one of the world’s largest collecting societies for creators of musical works.
Notes for editors
Examples of AI-generated songs and original songs, plus FAQs: https://www.gema.de/en/news/ai-and-music/ai-lawsuit
More details of GEMA’s AI licensing model, statements, and facts and figures on “AI and music” can be found in GEMA’s digital AI dossier (including English-language press releases and other documents)
The GEMA AI Charter
GEMA study “AI and Music” (2024)