This is a tracked list of every major AI music copyright lawsuit filed since the generative AI boom began. It is maintained for ML teams, legal counsel, investors, and journalists who need to understand the legal landscape without wading through every case filing. Last updated April 9, 2026.
The list is organized by case and includes filing date, court, parties, statute, damages sought, current status, and any settlement terms. Sources are linked where available. If a case is not on this list, it either (a) has not been filed or (b) is below the threshold of commercial relevance for the enterprise buyers this post is written for.
Cases involving AI music generation
UMG Recordings, Inc. v. Suno, Inc.
Filed: June 24, 2024
Court: U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts
Case number: 1:24-cv-11611
Plaintiffs: Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Records (via RIAA)
Defendant: Suno, Inc.
Claims: Direct copyright infringement of sound recordings (17 U.S.C. §106), DMCA circumvention claims (§1201)
Damages sought: Up to $150,000 per infringed work under 17 U.S.C. §504(c)(2), plus $2,500 per act of circumvention
Key developments:
- June 2024: Complaint filed. Suno initially defended on fair use grounds.
- September 22, 2025: Plaintiffs filed amended complaint alleging Suno obtained training data by stream-ripping YouTube, adding specific DMCA claims.
- November 25, 2025: Warner Music Group settled and formed a licensing partnership with Suno. Suno acquired Songkick from Warner as part of the deal and committed to phasing out current models in favor of licensed versions.
- April 2026: Sony Music and UMG continue to litigate against Suno.
UMG Recordings, Inc. v. Uncharted Labs, Inc. (Udio)
Filed: June 24, 2024
Court: U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
Plaintiffs: Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Records (via RIAA)
Defendant: Uncharted Labs, Inc. d/b/a Udio
Claims: Copyright infringement + DMCA circumvention (parallel to Suno case)
Damages sought: Up to $150,000 per work + $2,500 per circumvention
Key developments:
- October 29, 2025: Universal Music Group settled with Udio. The deal includes a licensing partnership and a joint AI music platform launching in 2026 with opt-in artist compensation. Financial terms undisclosed.
- November 2025: Warner Music Group also settled with Udio.
- April 2026: Sony Music continues to litigate against Udio.
Tony Justice et al. v. Suno/Udio (indie class actions)
Filed: October 2025 (Suno) and October 15, 2025 (Udio)
Courts: Same districts as the RIAA cases
Plaintiffs: Independent artists representing a putative class covering all independent artists/songwriters/producers whose works appeared on streaming since January 1, 2021
Defendants: Suno and Udio
Claims: Copyright infringement
Damages sought: Up to $150,000 per work plus injunctive relief
Key developments:
- October 2025: Class action complaints filed.
- Suno's motion to dismiss hearing scheduled for March 20, 2026.
- Both cases active.
GEMA v. Suno
Filed: January 2025
Court: Munich Regional Court (Germany)
Plaintiff: GEMA (Germany's music rights collecting society)
Defendant: Suno
Claims: Copyright infringement under German law
Key developments:
- March 2026: First court hearing held.
- Suno response deadline April 7, 2026.
- Ruling scheduled for June 12, 2026.
Cases involving AI and music publishing (lyrics)
Concord Music Group, Inc. v. Anthropic PBC
Filed: October 18, 2023
Court: U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
Case number: 5:24-cv-03811
Plaintiffs: Music publishers led by Concord Music Group and Universal Music Corp.
Defendant: Anthropic PBC
Claims: Direct copyright infringement (training on copyrighted lyrics); reproduction of lyrics in Claude outputs; removal of copyright management information
Key developments:
- January 2025: Anthropic stipulated to maintain guardrails preventing Claude from reproducing lyrics in outputs.
- March 25, 2025: Court denied plaintiffs' motion for preliminary injunction on training data use, finding no irreparable harm.
- March 26, 2025: Court granted Anthropic's motion to dismiss contributory/vicarious infringement and CMI removal claims.
- Direct infringement claim pending.
GEMA v. OpenAI
Filed: November 2024
Court: Munich Regional Court (Germany)
Plaintiff: GEMA
Defendant: OpenAI
Claims: Copyright infringement under German law; unauthorized reproduction of song lyrics in ChatGPT outputs
Key developments:
- November 2025: Munich Regional Court ruled in favor of GEMA, granting an injunction. First worldwide copyright ruling against OpenAI.
- OpenAI has appealed. Decision pending.
Cases establishing broader precedent (non-music but relevant)
Thomson Reuters Enterprise Centre GmbH v. Ross Intelligence Inc.
Filed: 2020
Court: U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware
Case number: 20-613
Plaintiff: Thomson Reuters
Defendant: Ross Intelligence Inc.
Claims: Copyright infringement (training AI legal search on 2,243 Westlaw headnotes)
Key developments:
- February 11, 2025: Judge Stephanos Bibas granted summary judgment for Thomson Reuters. First federal court ruling to reject an AI fair use defense.
- Factor 4 (market harm) weighed decisively against the defendant.
- Critical precedent, though limited by the fact that Ross was non-generative AI.
Bartz v. Anthropic PBC
Filed: 2024
Court: U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
Judge: William Alsup
Plaintiffs: Authors including Andrea Bartz
Defendant: Anthropic PBC
Claims: Copyright infringement (training on copyrighted and pirated books)
Key developments:
- June 23, 2025: Split summary judgment. Training on legally purchased books = fair use. Training on 7+ million pirated books = NOT fair use.
- September 25, 2025: Judge Alsup preliminarily approved a $1.5 billion settlement. Largest copyright settlement in U.S. history.
- The $1.5B number is tied specifically to the pirated books claim, not the legally purchased books claim.
Kadrey et al. v. Meta Platforms, Inc.
Filed: July 7, 2023
Court: U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
Judge: Vince Chhabria
Plaintiffs: Richard Kadrey, Sarah Silverman, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Junot Díaz, Jacqueline Woodson, Andrew Sean Greer, and others
Defendant: Meta Platforms, Inc.
Claims: Copyright infringement (training Llama on copyrighted books)
