Hueston Hennigan represents the major record labels, including UMG Recordings, Warner Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment, in copyright infringement suits filed against two leading generative AI music companies, Udio and Suno.
Spearheaded by the Recording Industry Association of America, this is the first time the record labels have sued AI companies alleging copyright infringement of their sound recordings.
As the complaints describe, “AI companies, like all other enterprises, must abide by the laws that protect human creativity and ingenuity. There is nothing that exempts AI technology from copyright law or that excuses AI companies from playing by the rules. These lawsuits seek to enforce these basic principles.”
The suits are UMG Recordings, Inc. et al. v. Uncharted Labs, dba Udio, et al. (1:24-cv-04777, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York) and UMG Recordings, Inc. et al. v. Suno, Inc. et al. (1:24-cv-11611, U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts).
The Hueston Hennigan team includes Moez Kaba, Robert Klieger, Mariah Rivera and Alexander Perry.
The suits have been widely covered in the press, appearing in outlets including Law.com, Law360, the Verge, Variety, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, Wired and the BBC, among others.