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GEMA sues Suno Inc’s AI music tool for unauthorised processing of protected musical works.

GEMA filed a lawsuit against the US company Suno Inc. with the Munich Regional Court on 21 January 2025. The reason for this is the use of an AI-supported music tool from Suno, which generates audio content through simple input (prompts). In GEMA’s opinion, Suno processes protected musical works without the consent of the authors and without ensuring appropriate remuneration (https://www.gema.de/de/w/pm-klage-gegen-suno).

The complaint is based on recordings of world-famous songs from GEMA’s repertoire, including classics such as “Forever Young” by Alphaville, “Atemlos” by Kristina Bach, “Mambo No. 5” by Lou Bega, “Daddy Cool” by Frank Farian and “Cheri Cheri Lady” by Modern Talking. GEMA states that it has proven that the AI-generated content from Suno Inc. is deceptively similar to the original works in terms of melody, harmony and rhythm.

The sound snippets published by GEMA support this assertion (https://www.gema.de/de/aktuelles/ki-und-musik/ki-klage).

GEMA criticises the fact that while users pay a subscription fee for the premium version of the Suno tool, the actual music creators go away empty-handed. This practice contradicts the basic principles of copyright law and constitutes unauthorised use of the creative work of others. GEMA is therefore calling for a fair share for rights holders in the added value created by AI-generated content.

There is much to suggest that the AI system was (also) trained with GEMA’s repertoire. This, or at the latest the output, is likely to have infringed the authors’ reproduction rights (Section 16 UrhG). The reproduction of the almost identical songs also infringes the right of making available to the public (Section 19a UrhG), which is why it is only logical that GEMA is demanding a share of the exploitation rights from its artists.

With this lawsuit, GEMA is once again sending a clear signal to the entire industry. As with the video and streaming platforms, GEMA is seeking a fundamental regulation – as it recently did against Open AI (https://www.gema.de/de/w/gema-erhebt-klage-gegen-openai)– so that its members are also appropriately remunerated in the age of artificial intelligence.