Major record labels have intensified their lawsuit against the AI startup Suno, alleging that the company engaged in unauthorized practices to train its generative AI music models. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) filed an amended complaint on September 19, accusing Suno of “stream ripping” tracks from YouTube. This process entails transforming streaming content into downloadable files, which reportedly breaches YouTube’s protective measures against unauthorized copying.
The updated lawsuit claims that Suno utilized specific code to access, extract, and download copyrighted material from prominent music labels, including Universal, Sony, and Warner. The RIAA contends that this action violated YouTube’s terms of service by circumventing the platform’s “rolling cipher” encryption. According to the complaint, this circumvention enabled Suno to engage in ongoing and widespread infringement, which contravenes the anti-circumvention stipulations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
Section 1201 of the DMCA prohibits any individual from bypassing a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under U.S. copyright law. Historically, this law has been applied broadly, impacting various areas such as device unlocking and repair rights. However, in this lawsuit, it is employed to address copyright infringement more directly by targeting unauthorized access to protected materials, specifically in the context of AI training. While there are provisions within Section 1201 for exceptions permitting circumvention in specific cases, no exceptions for training AI models currently exist.
The complaint asserts that Suno incorporated “decades worth of the world’s most popular sound recordings” into its AI systems without acquiring permission from the respective record companies. The RIAA is pursuing statutory damages of $2,500 for each instance of circumvention, with claims potentially reaching up to $150,000 for each infringed work.
Source: https://www.theverge.com/news/782448/riaa-suno-ai-lawsuit-update-stream-ripping-youtube