UMG Recordings Inc v Suno Inc: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 16:24, 7 September 2026

Case Information
Case name	UMG Recordings Inc v. Suno Inc^[1]
Court	U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts^[1]
Docket	1:24-cv-11611-FDS^[1]
Filed	June 24, 2024^[1]
Judge(s)	F. Dennis Saylor IV^[2]^[3]
Plaintiffs	UMG Recordings, Inc.; Capitol Records, LLC; Sony Music Entertainment (August 2026 amended complaint)^[4]
Defendants	Suno, Inc.; John Does 1–10^[1]
Case type	Civil copyright action^[1]
Claims / issues	Copyright infringement of sound recordings and DMCA § 1201 circumvention^[1]
Status	August 25, 2026: amended complaint filed after orders addressing leave to amend. Later developments have not been verified.^[4]

UMG Recordings, Inc. v. Suno, Inc. is a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by major record labels against AI music generation company Suno, alleging that Suno trained its AI models on vast quantities of copyrighted sound recordings without authorization.

Allegations

The plaintiffs — including Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and other major labels — allege that Suno copied millions of copyrighted sound recordings to train its AI music generation models. The labels argue this constitutes mass copyright infringement on an unprecedented scale.

The August 25 amended complaint alleges that Suno used YT-DL and YT-DLP to bypass YouTube’s “rolling cipher” and obtain recordings for its training data.^[5]^[6]

Settlement Status

In April 2026, Warner Music Group reached a landmark licensing deal with Suno, becoming the first major label to settle. However, Universal Music Group and Sony Music have reached an impasse in settlement negotiations, with disputes over licensing fees and terms. The litigation continues for the non-settling labels while the Warner deal reshapes the AI music licensing landscape.

Procedural History

June 24, 2024 — Complaint filed in District of Massachusetts
2025 — Discovery and motion practice
April 2026 — Warner Music Group settles; UMG and Sony reach settlement impasse
August 18, 2026 — Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV permits UMG and Sony to add a DMCA Section 1201 stream-ripping claim but denies their request to add 61,026 recordings.^[6]
August 25, 2026 — UMG and Sony file the amended complaint.^[5]

Significance

This case is one of the most important AI copyright disputes in the music industry, alongside the parallel case against Udio. The outcome will help define whether AI training on copyrighted music constitutes fair use and establish licensing frameworks for AI-generated music.

References

[case-record-c683ba9b55f8d227-1] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 ^1.4 ^1.5 ^1.6 Court filing / case record, reviewed September 7, 2026

[case-record-0b8691fc76f58f89-2] Court filing / case record, reviewed September 7, 2026

[case-record-f246c12e15b58c5b-3] Court filing / case record, reviewed September 7, 2026

[case-record-639d33d9d9ae1048-4] 4.0 ^4.1 Court filing / case record, reviewed September 7, 2026

[suno-amended-complaint-5] 5.0 ^5.1 U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, amended complaint, filed August 25, 2026

[cmu-suno-aug28-6] 6.0 ^6.1 Complete Music Update, “Universal and Sony file amended Suno lawsuit after judge gives all clear to add stream ripping claims,” August 28, 2026

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[2]

[3]

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[5]

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+<!-- AILawWiki case sidebar v1 -->
+<div class="ailaw-case-layout" style="display:flex;flex-direction:row-reverse;flex-wrap:wrap;gap:1.5em;align-items:flex-start;">
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+{| class="wikitable ailaw-case-info" style="width:100%;margin:0;"
+|+ style="font-size:125%;font-weight:bold;padding:0.5em;" | Case Information
 |-
-! Case Name
+! scope="row" style="width:30%;text-align:left;vertical-align:top;" | Case name
-| UMG Recordings, Inc. v. Suno, Inc.
+| style="vertical-align:top;overflow-wrap:anywhere;" | UMG Recordings Inc v. Suno Inc<ref name="case-record-c683ba9b55f8d227">[https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mad.272063/gov.uscourts.mad.272063.1.0.pdf Court filing / case record, reviewed September 7, 2026]</ref>
 |-
-! Docket
+! scope="row" style="width:30%;text-align:left;vertical-align:top;" | Court
-| 1:24-cv-11611
+| style="vertical-align:top;overflow-wrap:anywhere;" | U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts<ref name="case-record-c683ba9b55f8d227" />
 |-
-! Court
+! scope="row" style="width:30%;text-align:left;vertical-align:top;" | Docket
-| U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts
+| style="vertical-align:top;overflow-wrap:anywhere;" | 1:24-cv-11611-FDS<ref name="case-record-c683ba9b55f8d227" />
 |-
-! Filed
+! scope="row" style="width:30%;text-align:left;vertical-align:top;" | Filed
-| June 24, 2024
+| style="vertical-align:top;overflow-wrap:anywhere;" | June 24, 2024<ref name="case-record-c683ba9b55f8d227" />
 |-
-! Plaintiffs
+! scope="row" style="width:30%;text-align:left;vertical-align:top;" | Judge(s)
-| UMG Recordings, Inc., Sony Music Entertainment, and other major record labels
+| style="vertical-align:top;overflow-wrap:anywhere;" | F. Dennis Saylor IV<ref name="case-record-0b8691fc76f58f89">[https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mad.272063/gov.uscourts.mad.272063.271.0.pdf Court filing / case record, reviewed September 7, 2026]</ref><ref name="case-record-f246c12e15b58c5b">[https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mad.272063/gov.uscourts.mad.272063.272.0.pdf Court filing / case record, reviewed September 7, 2026]</ref>
 |-
-! Defendant
+! scope="row" style="width:30%;text-align:left;vertical-align:top;" | Plaintiffs
-| Suno, Inc.
+| style="vertical-align:top;overflow-wrap:anywhere;" | UMG Recordings, Inc.; Capitol Records, LLC; Sony Music Entertainment (August 2026 amended complaint)<ref name="case-record-639d33d9d9ae1048">[https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/files/2026/08/gov.uscourts.mad_.272063.277.0_1.pdf Court filing / case record, reviewed September 7, 2026]</ref>
 |-
-! Claims
+! scope="row" style="width:30%;text-align:left;vertical-align:top;" | Defendants
-| Copyright infringement (mass-scale copying of copyrighted sound recordings); DMCA Section 1201 anti-circumvention claim<ref name="suno-amended-complaint">[https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/files/2026/08/gov.uscourts.mad_.272063.277.0_1.pdf U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, amended complaint, filed August 25, 2026]</ref>
+| style="vertical-align:top;overflow-wrap:anywhere;" | Suno, Inc.; John Does 1–10<ref name="case-record-c683ba9b55f8d227" />
 |-
-! Status
+! scope="row" style="width:30%;text-align:left;vertical-align:top;" | Case type
-| Active — Settlement impasse with UMG/Sony; Warner Music settled separately
+| style="vertical-align:top;overflow-wrap:anywhere;" | Civil copyright action<ref name="case-record-c683ba9b55f8d227" />
+|-
+! scope="row" style="width:30%;text-align:left;vertical-align:top;" | Claims / issues
+| style="vertical-align:top;overflow-wrap:anywhere;" | Copyright infringement of sound recordings and DMCA § 1201 circumvention<ref name="case-record-c683ba9b55f8d227" />
+|-
+! scope="row" style="width:30%;text-align:left;vertical-align:top;" | Status
+| style="vertical-align:top;overflow-wrap:anywhere;" | August 25, 2026: amended complaint filed after orders addressing leave to amend. Later developments have not been verified.<ref name="case-record-639d33d9d9ae1048" />
 |}
+</div>
+<div class="ailaw-case-article" style="flex:1 1 28em;min-width:0;overflow-wrap:anywhere;">
 '''UMG Recordings, Inc. v. Suno, Inc.''' is a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by major record labels against AI music generation company Suno, alleging that Suno trained its AI models on vast quantities of copyrighted sound recordings without authorization.
@@ Line 31: / Line 45: @@
 The plaintiffs — including Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and other major labels — allege that Suno copied millions of copyrighted sound recordings to train its AI music generation models. The labels argue this constitutes mass copyright infringement on an unprecedented scale.
-The August 25 amended complaint alleges that Suno used YT-DL and YT-DLP to bypass YouTube’s “rolling cipher” and obtain recordings for its training data.<ref name="suno-amended-complaint" /><ref name="cmu-suno-aug28">[https://completemusicupdate.com/universal-and-sony-file-amended-suno-lawsuit-after-judge-gives-all-clear-to-add-stream-ripping-claims/ Complete Music Update, “Universal and Sony file amended Suno lawsuit after judge gives all clear to add stream ripping claims,” August 28, 2026]</ref>
+The August 25 amended complaint alleges that Suno used YT-DL and YT-DLP to bypass YouTube’s “rolling cipher” and obtain recordings for its training data.<ref name="suno-amended-complaint">[https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/files/2026/08/gov.uscourts.mad_.272063.277.0_1.pdf U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, amended complaint, filed August 25, 2026]</ref><ref name="cmu-suno-aug28">[https://completemusicupdate.com/universal-and-sony-file-amended-suno-lawsuit-after-judge-gives-all-clear-to-add-stream-ripping-claims/ Complete Music Update, “Universal and Sony file amended Suno lawsuit after judge gives all clear to add stream ripping claims,” August 28, 2026]</ref>
 == Settlement Status ==
@@ Line 54: / Line 68: @@
 == References ==
 <references />
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 [[Category:Copyright Litigation]]