The Munich I Regional Court has handed down a judgement in the legal dispute between GEMA and the US AI company Suno that could set a precedent for the cultural and creative industries. The 42nd Civil Chamber, which specialises in copyright law, largely upheld the collecting society’s claim and awarded it injunctive relief, a right to information and damages.

In the court’s view, Suno used copyright-protected musical works to train its AI music generator without the consent of the rights holders. Furthermore, it is alleged that YouTube’s technical protection measures were circumvented in order to extract the works. The court also found that, in several cases, the output generated by the AI constituted unauthorised reproductions of protected works.

No decision has yet been made on the amount of any damages. Suno must first provide information on the extent to which the works in question have been used. The judgement is not yet final.

Beyond this specific case, the ruling is also likely to be significant for the film and television industry. The question of the conditions under which copyright-protected content may be used to train generative AI concerns not only music, but also films, TV series, screenplays and other audiovisual works. Should the ruling be upheld by a higher court, this could increase the pressure on AI providers to enter into licensing agreements with rights holders and to ensure greater transparency regarding the training data used.

The Munich I Regional Court has thus sent out a further legal signal in the current debate on the use of generative AI in the media and creative industries.