Nov 11th, 2025:

OpenAI has been found to have violated German copyright laws designed to protect original works and prevent unauthorised reproduction, distribution, or adaptation of copyrighted material.

The court in Munich ruled that OpenAI trained ChatGPT on protected content from at least nine German songs.

In court, GEMA proved that copyrighted content is trivially reproduced and made available by OpenAI's ChatGPT in exact copies or with minor alterations.

In November 2024, GEMA filed the lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging that the company systematically utilises copyrighted material without providing compensation.

OpenAI's position that it qualifies as a privileged research organisation was rejected by the court.

A licensing model for AI had been offered to OpenAI by the collecting society in September 2024, which was rejected.

The ruling represents the first time that a European court has formally examined and ruled in favour of copyright holders against AI.

GEMA has also filed a lawsuit against AI music generator Suno, with a hearing scheduled for 26 January 2026.

Suno's AI tool, it is claimed by the organisation, was trained on original recordings from GEMA's portfolio.

GEMA is one of the five biggest PROs in the world.

 

This is a great victory for musicians and music professionals!

Every time someone uses your music or lyrics, provided it is registered with GEMA, they have to pay and GEMA ensures that the copyright holders, i.e. the musicians, get their money.

 

It's called GEMA. Not PRO GEMA. The latter is a fertilizer manufacturer.

 

Gesellschaft für musikalische Aufführungs- und mechanische Vervielfältigungsrechte (GEMA) www.gema.de/de
Society for Musical Performing and Mechanical Reproduction Rights (GEMA) www.gema.de/en

 

I remember how Sam Altman said that regulating AI and enforcing copyright laws would be bad as it would "slow down innovation" and make them lose the AI technology race. In other words, Sam Altman is 100% aware that his company violates copyright and intellectual property laws. But we live in a tech oligarchy now, so instead of regulation, they received 500 Billion in funding and were probably given the ok to scrape any and all data they want. Fucking disgusting.

This lost lawsuit is just a slap on the wrist for a project with this much funding.

 

PRO = Performance rights organisation. Not a name or part of the name

 

Thanks for the explanation. GEMA is the german administration that mainly manages copyrights. It collects license fees from broadcasting stations, event organizers, cinemas, labels, web portals and even sellers of electronic storage devices (tbc...) for the usage of registered works.
The german performance rights organisation is called Gesellschaft zur Verwertung von Leistungsschutzrechten (GVL).

 

I hadn't heard of GVL before, interesting!

The industry/(English) Wikipedia calls GEMA a PRO (first sentence).

If I'm understanding GVL's role correctly, then GVL licenses the actual execution of the work (drumming, vocals, .. on a record), while GEMA licenses the abstract execution of the work (lyrics, composition, .. on a sheet of paper).

Typically, GEMA takes over collection duties for both and GEMA then pays GVL accordingly, both then individually pay artists.

 

Last edited: Nov 12, 2025 at 9:33 PM

I hope this news start chain-events to ruin that shitty suno and wannabe beatmakers with it.

 

The nerve to say this is unhinged

Good news too. As much as I like its results technically... I could tell which singer was mainly trained by in some songs.

 

It really is. If they remained a non-profit and made the technology at the top tiers freely available to all, then sure, call yourselves a privileged research organization.

 

Interesting. I imagine the rest of the EU will follow suit. China will laugh and do whatever they want. The United States will fall somewhere in the middle.

It'll be interesting to see if these companies with their high valuations will adapt, compensating creators, be absorbed ala Udio, or just completely go under.

 

In Germany, there's the "VG Wort + VG Bild-Kunst" (German collecting society for authors' rights).
You can register your texts, images, etc. there, and if your work is published anywhere, the VG ensures you receive payment.

VG Wort + VG Bild-Kunst --> www.djv-bremen.de/info/vg-wort-vg-bild-kunst

 

Nice they did something good for the Artists.
I left GEMA long ago.. my older Music from 1990-2012s was all over Youtube etc...used in Zumba, Aerobic Videos...
I told them. nothing happend. i had to pay ~80€ per year for nothing...
After 2012 it was better with no GEMA for my buddy and me... Beatport, Traxstore, Distrokid..

 

As you know, millions of songs are uploaded every day; you can't control that, nor can you represent the rights of GEMA members.
There's just too much data.

GEMA is more for big players. In our restaurants, every TV set up has to pay GEMA if it's showing, for example, the national football matches. Since the fines are very high, almost everyone pays the GEMA fee. Even music from bands played on CD in restaurants costs GEMA. So, restaurant = GEMA.

 

Another "industry" sector just realised AI is killing them.

Because anyone can generate a whole playlist without ANY royalties.
YOU just prompted a line with "playlist 90's music" and that's all.
And tomorrow, generate another in seconds.

That's fun, because they pretend to be fearless monsters ... and know they realise they are just going to disappear like dinosaurs. And panic.
NO they are not "musicians friends" by any stretch.

They are just vampires, waking up late when the whole boat is sinking.

 

GEMA has done a lot of dumb shit, but this is certainly a W

 

One has to wonder how they're going to go about taking down the millions of works already created by ChatGPT / Udio / Suno. Presumably, most or all of those are derived works and thus in violation of copyright laws.

 

They can't. The new AI technology, like the previous digitization, will completely change our lives. The sheer number of songs alone can only be viewed and analyzed by AI. But compensation can be obtained and given to the artists or copyright holders.

If you're famous and rich, hire a specialist lawyer and sue the companies that stole your product. The legal system will then deliver a verdict, which can take years. Usually, the big players will keep filing counter-claims until they go bankrupt. A lawyer in the US said, "Yes, we'll sue Motorola." But a law firm needs at least $150 million to even sustain a three-year trial.

 

If I understood correctly (a big "if", having spent my previous life on the studio side of business), it's up to artists/authors to take legal actions in such cases. Having your work registered with the organisations like GEMA only gives you a foot to stand on, legally. They won't sue anyone for copyright infringement on your behalf. That's what I was told by the PRO organisation in my country.

Now, I'd like to be wrong in this case. I myself am currently considering joining GEMA or equivalent organisation with a more global clout.