Kogon v Google LLC

Kogon et al. v. Google LLC (Case No. 1:26-cv-02582) is a proposed class action lawsuit filed on March 6, 2026, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, alleging Google trained its Lyria 3 AI music-generation model on millions of copyrighted sound recordings, musical compositions, and lyrics scraped from YouTube without permission, payment, or proper rights clearance.<ref name="mbw">Music Business Worldwide, "Indie Artists Sue Google, Claiming It Used YouTube's Own Catalog to Train Lyria 3 AI Music Tool," March 2026</ref><ref name="loevy">Loevy & Loevy, "Independent Musicians Sue Google Over AI Music," March 2026</ref>

Background

The 118-page complaint was filed by independent musicians led by New York singer-songwriter Sam Kogon, also including David Woulard (Attack the Sound), Stan and James Burjek, Directrix members (Berk Ergoz, Hamza Jilani, Maatkara Wilson, Arjun Singh), Magnus Fiennes, and Michael Mell.<ref name="loevy-complaint">Kogon v. Google LLC, Complaint, Case No. 1:26-cv-02582 (N.D. Ill.)</ref>

Google launched Lyria 3, its AI music-generation model, publicly on February 18, 2026, via the Gemini app. Plaintiffs allege Google exploited its control over YouTube and Content ID to copy at least 44 million clips and 280,000 hours of music for training purposes.<ref name="mbw" /><ref name="loevy-complaint" />

Claims

The complaint asserts the following claims:<ref name="loevy-complaint" /><ref name="vitallaw">VitalLaw, "Independent Artists Take on Google Over AI Music Generation"</ref>

Direct copyright infringement of reproduction, derivative works, and distribution rights under 17 U.S.C. § 106
Contributory and vicarious copyright infringement by facilitating user infringements
DMCA violations (17 U.S.C. § 1202) for stripping copyright management information (CMI) including artist names, track titles, ISRC codes, and metadata, plus distributing false CMI in AI outputs and circumventing access controls
Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) violations (740 ILCS 14/1 et seq.) for extracting and storing artists' voice biometrics
Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act and unjust enrichment for unfair substitution of AI music and profiting without compensation
False advertising under the Lanham Act for misrepresenting Lyria 3's sourcing and originality

Significance

Kogon v. Google is the first major AI copyright case to target Google's music-generation model, and the first to allege BIPA violations in addition to copyright and DMCA claims. The case raises novel questions about whether YouTube's platform control constitutes structural leverage for unauthorized AI training data acquisition, and whether voice biometrics in AI models implicate Illinois BIPA.<ref name="mbw" /><ref name="vitallaw" />

Procedural Status

The case was filed March 6, 2026, and is in early procedural stages as of April 2026.

Case Information

Court: U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
Case No.: 1:26-cv-02582
Lead Plaintiff: Sam Kogon
Defendant: Google LLC
Filed: March 6, 2026

References