Sony Music and Universal Music Group sued Suno, the AI music company behind the v6 music model, on September 18, 2026. In a 45-page complaint filed in Massachusetts, the labels argue that Suno’s newest model still violates copyright.
Their argument is pretty direct. Sony Music and Universal Music Group say Suno’s earlier models were trained on copyrighted recordings without permission, and that retraining v6 on material generated from those systems doesn’t fix that original problem. In the complaint, the labels call it “fruit from the same poisoned tree,” say the infringement was “laundered,” and argue that later versions deserve fresh scrutiny, not a reset.
The suit asks for up to $150,000 per work across 60,202 recordings, which would put the claim above $9 billion. It also ties back to the June 2024 lawsuit brought by Sony Music, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group. Warner has since settled with Suno, signed a license, and left the case, which leaves Sony Music and Universal Music Group as the remaining major-label plaintiffs.
If you follow AI music copyright, this one’s worth keeping an eye on. Suno has admitted that YouTube audio was used for training. The labels also added a stream-ripping claim, saying Suno bypassed YouTube’s anti-downloading protections. Suno says that use is fair because the recordings were used to build a new back-end product, and that “learning is not infringing.” The company also lost GEMA’s 2026 case in Germany, was sued by the Canadian collecting society SOCAN in September 2026, and still faces an artists class action. The filing is in the Massachusetts docket.
Author: Emmanuel Pina
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