German Court Rules OpenAI Must Pay for Using Copyrighted Song Lyrics in AI Training

OpenAI may not use lyrics without license, German court rules

MUNICH, Nov 11 (Reuters) - A German court on Tuesday sided with the country's music rights society GEMA in a closely watched copyright case against U.S.-based artificial intelligence firm OpenAI. The court in Munich ruled that OpenAI could not use song lyrics without a license and presiding judge Elke Schwager ordered the firm to pay damages for the use of copyrighted material. GEMA had argued OpenAI's chatbot ChatGPT reproduces lyrics from copyrighted German songs without authorisation, and that its AI was trained on protected content from the repertoire of its roughly 100,000 members, who include best-selling musician Herbert Groenemeyer. OpenAI responded by saying that GEMA's arguments reflected a misunderstanding of how ChatGPT works. The case could set a precedent for how generative AI systems are regulated in Europe. GEMA is seeking the establishment of a licensing framework that would require AI developers to pay for the use of musical works in both training and output. The decision can be appealed. OpenAI and GEMA said they would issue statements on the verdict later on Tuesday. Reporting by Joern Poltz, Writing by Friederike Heine, Editing by Madeline Chambers Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

OpenAI cannot use song lyrics without paying, German court rules

A Munich court ordered OpenAI to pay damages to Germany's largest music rights organisation for using copyrighted lyrics in AI models such as ChatGPT. OpenAI must pay a licensing fee to use copyrighted song lyrics in its artificial intelligence (AI) models, including ChatGPT, a German court ruled in a landmark case on Tuesday. Presiding judge Elke Schwager ruled in favour of the Society for musical performing and mechanical reproduction rights (GEMA), Germany's largest music rights collecting organisation, which lodged a complaint last year against the US-based OpenAI over its use of copyrighted lyrics. The judge ordered OpenAI to compensate GEMA for all damages, including unpaid royalties and legal fees, plus interest. OpenAI could be forced to pay the group hundreds of thousands of euros if the ruling holds. An OpenAI spokesperson told Euronews Next in an email that the company disagreed with the ruling and is considering its next steps. "The decision is for a limited set of lyrics and does not impact the millions of people, businesses, and developers in Germany that use our technology everyday," the spokesperson said. "We respect the rights of creators and content owners and are having productive conversations with many organisations around the world, so that they can also benefit from the opportunities of this technology," the spokesperson added. OpenAI can still appeal the decision. The case concerns the lyrics of nine well-known German songwriters represented by GEMA, including Kristina Bach and Rolf Zuckowski. GEMA alleges that OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbot memorised these lyrics in its datasets and reproduced "large parts" of these songs "verbatim" when prompted. OpenAI argued that its language models do not store or copy specific training data, but rather learn patterns and generate new outputs based on those patterns. The company put the responsibility on individual chatbot users, saying the lyrical outputs could not be generated without user input - an argument the court rejected. "The defendants, not the users, are responsible for this," the court said in a statement. "The language models operated by the defendants significantly influenced the outputs; the specific content of the outputs is generated by the language models". The case is the first of its scale in Europe. It could set a precedent for how generative AI systems are regulated in ⁠the European Union - especially when it comes to art. "For the first time, today's ruling clarifies key legal questions concerning the way new technology interacts with European copyright law," GEMA's General Counsel Kai Welp said in a statement shared with Euronews Next. "The verdict represents a milestone on the way to obtaining fair remuneration for authors and creators throughout Europe," Welp added. GEMA is one of the largest societies for musical creators in the world, representing more than 95,000 composers, songwriters, and publishers in Germany, and over two million copyright owners globally. The group has offered an AI licensing model since 2024, designed to let technology companies train on its catalogue legally while ensuring artists are paid fairly. GEMA has filed a parallel lawsuit against US-based AI music generator SunoAI, also accusing the company of training on its catalogue. That case is expected to be heard early next year.

OpenAI loses music copyright battle in German court

The judgement is not final and OpenAI has said that it is considering next steps. OpenAI has violated German copyright laws by reproducing song lyrics by popular artists, the Munich Regional Court has ruled today (11 November). GEMA, a German management organisation representing more than 100,000 composers, songwriters and publishers filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in 2024. The case references nine songs by popular German artists, and GEMA claims that its lyrics were memorised by the large language models (LLM) and reproduced when simple prompts were put into the chatbot. "Both the memorisation in the language models and the reproduction of the lyrics in the outputs of the chatbot would interfere with the copyright exploitation rights," a translated press release put out by the Regional Court read. OpenAI claimed that its LLMs did not store or copy specific training data. It said that since the chatbot's outputs are dependent on prompts put in by users, it is not their responsibility, but rather the users', who generate reproduced outputs. The court, however, found that the disputed lyrics are "reproducibly" contained in OpenAI's GPT 4 and 4o models, after being 'memorised' for training. It added that the defendants also unjustifiably duplicated the lyrics and made them publicly available by allowing them to be outputted by chatbot. "The defendants and not the users are responsible for this. The outputs were generated by simple prompts," the court said. Although, the judgement is not final and can be appealed. SiliconRepublic.com has reached out to OpenAI for further comments. "The internet is not a self-service store, and human creative achievements are not free templates," said GEMA CEO Tobias Holzmueller, in a statement to the press. An OpenAI spokesperson, however, told press that the company is considering next steps. "The decision is for a limited set of lyrics and does not impact the millions of people, businesses and developers in Germany that use our technology every day." GEMA has also filed a similar lawsuit this year against Suno AI, an AI music generator. The ruling comes as copyright laws worldwide have come to the foray in the generative AI (genAI) age where LLMs commonly consume copyrighted material to train and hone its results. Just last week, Getty lost a major lawsuit in the UK against Stability AI after the country's High Court ruled that the AI company's stable diffusion model weights did not contain copies of Getty's copyrighted works. And earlier this year, a US court sided with AI giant Anthropic, denying a motion filed by mega music publishers Universal Music Group, Concord and Capitol CMG to stop the start-up from using their song lyrics to train its AI models. While the complaint referenced 500 songs, the plaintiffs said that the proposed injunction would extend to all of their works. Anthropic pushed back, claiming that excluding an undefined number of material would make training its models "virtually impossible". Also earlier this year, Anthropic lost a major copyright battle against book publishers over illegally pirating their work to train its models. Although the company wound up having to pay $1.5bn to settle the case, the court ultimately said that the AI giant is protected under fair use when it came to using copyrighted works to train Claude. Don't miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic's digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.

OpenAI used song lyrics in violation of copyright laws, German court says - The Economic Times

The regional court in Munich found that the company trained its AI on protected content from nine German songs, including Groenemeyer's hits "Maenner" and "Bochum".OpenAI's chatbot ChatGPT violated German copyright laws by reproducing lyrics from songs by best-selling musician Herbert Groenemeyer and others, a court ruled on Tuesday, in a closely watched case against the U.S. firm over its use of lyrics to train its language models. The regional court in Munich found that the company trained its AI on protected content from nine German songs, including Groenemeyer's hits "Maenner" and "Bochum". The case was brought by German music rights society GEMA, whose members include composers, lyricists and publishers, in another sign of artists around the world fighting back against data scraping by AI. Presiding judge Elke Schwager ordered OpenAI to pay damages for the use of copyrighted material, without disclosing a figure. GEMA legal advisor Kai Welp said GEMA hoped discussions could now take place with OpenAI on how copyright holders can be remunerated. Copyright infringed OpenAI had argued that its language models did not store or copy specific training data but, rather, reflected what they had learned based on the entire training data set. Since the output would only be generated as a result of user inputs known as prompts, it was not the defendants, but the respective user who would be liable for it, OpenAI had argued. However, the court found that both the memorisation in the language models and the reproduction of the song lyrics in the chatbot's outputs constitute infringements of copyright exploitation rights, according to a statement on the ruling. Potential precedent The outcome of the case could set a precedent in Europe for how AI companies use copyrighted materials. "The internet is not a self-service store, and human creative achievements are not free templates," said GEMA CEO Tobias Holzmueller. "Today, we have set a precedent that protects and clarifies the rights of authors: even operators of AI tools such as ChatGPT must comply with copyright law." The decision can be appealed. "We disagree with the ruling and are considering next steps," a spokesperson for OpenAI said. "The decision is for a limited set of lyrics and does not impact the millions of people, businesses and developers in Germany that use our technology every day." Earlier this year, leading Bollywood music labels asked a New Delhi court to join a copyright lawsuit against OpenAI over alleged unauthorised use of sound recordings to train AI models, underscoring global concerns about AI and music rights.

German court rules OpenAI violated copyright laws by using song lyrics

A regional court in Munich has ruled that OpenAI's ChatGPT violated German copyright laws by reproducing lyrics from songs by Herbert Groenemeyer and other artists. As per Reuters, the court found that the company trained its AI on protected content from nine German songs, including hits like "Maenner" and "Bochum." The case was brought by German music rights society GEMA, representing composers, lyricists, and publishers. The court ordered OpenAI to pay damages for the use of copyrighted material, though the exact amount was not disclosed. GEMA also hopes this ruling will open discussions on how copyright holders can be fairly compensated. Meanwhile, OpenAI had argued that its language models do not store or copy specific data but generate outputs based on patterns learned from large datasets. However, the court concluded that both memorization in AI models and reproduction of song lyrics constitute copyright infringements. GEMA CEO Tobias Holzmueller emphasizes that creative works are not free templates, highlighting the ruling as a precedent for AI companies in Europe. OpenAI states it disagrees with the decision and is considering an appeal, noting the case involves a limited set of lyrics and does not affect the millions of users in Germany. Who do you think is right in this case?

ChatGpt-maker OpenAI faces setback from German court. Will there be regulations in AI chatbot training, output?

German music rights socity had argued OpenAI's chatbot ChatGPT reproduces lyrics from copyrighted German songs without authorisation. A German court on Tuesday sided with the country's music rights society GEMA in a closely watched copyright case against U.S.-based artificial intelligence firm OpenAI. The court in Munich ruled that OpenAI could not use song lyrics without a license and presiding judge Elke Schwager ordered the firm to pay damages for the use of copyrighted material. GEMA had argued OpenAI's chatbot ChatGPT reproduces lyrics from copyrighted German songs without authorisation, and that its AI was trained on protected content from the repertoire of its roughly 100,000 members, who include best-selling musician Herbert Groenemeyer. OpenAI responded by saying that GEMA's arguments reflected a misunderstanding of how ChatGPT works. The case could set a precedent for how generative AI systems are regulated in Europe. GEMA is seeking the establishment of a licensing framework that would require AI developers to pay for the use of musical works in both training and output. The decision can be appealed. OpenAI and GEMA said they would issue statements on the verdict later on Tuesday. Q1. Which company made ChatGpt? A1. OpenAI made ChatGpt. Q2. What is full form of AI? A2. The full form of AI is Artificial Intelligence. (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)

OpenAI used song lyrics in violation of copyright laws, German court says - The Korea Times

MUNICH -- OpenAI's chatbot ChatGPT violated German copyright laws by reproducing lyrics from songs by best-selling musician Herbert Groenemeyer and others, a court ruled on Tuesday, in a closely watched case against the U.S. firm over its use of lyrics to train its language models. The regional court in Munich found that the company trained its AI on protected content from nine German songs, including Groenemeyer's hits "Maenner" and "Bochum." The case was brought by German music rights society GEMA, whose members include composers, lyricists and publishers, in another sign of artists around the world fighting back against data scraping by AI. Presiding judge Elke Schwager ordered OpenAI to pay damages for the use of copyrighted material, without disclosing a figure. GEMA legal advisor Kai Welp said GEMA hoped discussions could now take place with OpenAI on how copyright holders can be remunerated. Copyright infringed OpenAI had argued that its language models did not store or copy specific training data but, rather, reflected what they had learned based on the entire training data set. Since the output would only be generated as a result of user inputs known as prompts, it was not the defendants, but the respective user who would be liable for it, OpenAI had argued. However, the court found that both the memorization in the language models and the reproduction of the song lyrics in the chatbot's outputs constitute infringements of copyright exploitation rights, according to a statement on the ruling. Potential precedent The outcome of the case could set a precedent in Europe for how AI companies use copyrighted materials. "The internet is not a self-service store, and human creative achievements are not free templates," said GEMA CEO Tobias Holzmueller. "Today, we have set a precedent that protects and clarifies the rights of authors: even operators of AI tools such as ChatGPT must comply with copyright law." The decision can be appealed. "We disagree with the ruling and are considering next steps," a spokesperson for OpenAI said. "The decision is for a limited set of lyrics and does not impact the millions of people, businesses and developers in Germany that use our technology every day." Earlier this year, leading Bollywood music labels asked a New Delhi court to join a copyright lawsuit against OpenAI over alleged unauthorized use of sound recordings to train AI models, underscoring global concerns about AI and music rights.

OpenAI may not use lyrics without license, German court rules

MUNICH (Reuters) -A German court on Tuesday sided with the country's music rights society GEMA in a closely watched copyright case against U.S.-based artificial intelligence firm OpenAI. The court in Munich ruled that OpenAI could not use song lyrics without a license and presiding judge Elke Schwager ordered the firm to pay damages for the use of copyrighted material. GEMA had argued OpenAI's chatbot ChatGPT reproduces lyrics from copyrighted German songs without authorisation, and that its AI was trained on protected content from the repertoire of its roughly 100,000 members, who include best-selling musician Herbert Groenemeyer. OpenAI responded by saying that GEMA's arguments reflected a misunderstanding of how ChatGPT works. The case could set a precedent for how generative AI systems are regulated in Europe. GEMA is seeking the establishment of a licensing framework that would require AI developers to pay for the use of musical works in both training and output. The decision can be appealed. OpenAI and GEMA said they would issue statements on the verdict later on Tuesday. (Reporting by Joern Poltz, Writing by Friederike Heine, Editing by Madeline Chambers)