Source: heise online

The Munich I Regional Court (42nd Civil Chamber) granted an interim injunction on 31 July 2026 ordering the US audio-AI provider Suno to cease producing AI outputs that imitate nine named songs in a confusingly similar way. Examples listed by GEMA include “Atemlos” (Helene Fischer), Alphaville’s “Big in Japan” and “Forever Young”, Boney M.’s “Daddy Cool” and “Rasputin”, Lou Bega’s 1999 version of “Mambo No. 5”, and three additional titles by an internationally known German pop duo; the court followed GEMA’s request to prohibit such imitations without permission.

The ruling addresses the core legal dispute over whether AI training involved permissible tokenization or copyright-infringing storage: GEMA alleges Suno memorised complete works or essential parts, producing outputs too similar to originals, while Suno denied storage or recognisability and argued user prompts — not the provider — would be responsible for infringing outputs. The injunction is not yet final; an appeal to the Munich Higher Regional Court is expected. If the decision stands, GEMA could pursue damages. The article also notes a prior interim GEMA victory against OpenAI (November 2025) concerning song lyrics and points to unresolved questions under the EU DSM Directive 2019/790 and a likely future clarification by the European Court of Justice.