Kogon v Google LLC
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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.[3][4]
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.[5]
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.[3][5]
Claims
The complaint asserts the following claims:[5][6]
- 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.[3][6]
Procedural Status
The case was filed March 6, 2026, and is in early procedural stages as of April 2026.
- 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
See Also
- Indie Artists Sue Google Over Lyria 3 AI Music Training
- UMG Recordings Inc v Suno Inc — Major labels sue Suno AI
- BMG Rights Management v Anthropic PBC — Music publisher sues Anthropic over lyrics
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Court filing / case record, reviewed September 7, 2026
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Court filing / case record, reviewed September 7, 2026
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Music Business Worldwide, "Indie Artists Sue Google, Claiming It Used YouTube's Own Catalog to Train Lyria 3 AI Music Tool," March 2026
- ↑ Loevy & Loevy, "Independent Musicians Sue Google Over AI Music," March 2026
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Kogon v. Google LLC, Complaint, Case No. 1:26-cv-02582 (N.D. Ill.)
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 VitalLaw, "Independent Artists Take on Google Over AI Music Generation"