German Music Rights Body GEMA Sues OpenAI for Copyright Infringement

Reviewed byNidhi Govil

3 Sources

Share

GEMA, a German music rights organization, has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging copyright infringement. The case centers on the unauthorized use of song lyrics in AI training and reproduction by ChatGPT.

German Music Rights Body Takes on AI Giant

In a significant legal challenge to the rapidly evolving field of artificial intelligence, GEMA, a prominent German music rights organization, has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, alleging copyright infringement

1

. The case, which is being heard in a regional Munich court, marks the latest in a series of legal battles faced by OpenAI, as various media groups and authors claim their work has been used without permission to train AI models

2

.

Source: Tech Xplore

Source: Tech Xplore

The Crux of the Lawsuit

GEMA, representing over 100,000 composers, songwriters, and publishers, asserts that OpenAI has "systematically" utilized its repertoire to train its AI models without obtaining the necessary permissions

3

. The organization is specifically representing the lyricists of nine German songs in this case and is seeking unspecified damages.

Evidence and Arguments

The court has acknowledged that it is "undisputed" that OpenAI's large language model was trained using lyrics from the songs in question

1

. GEMA's argument is bolstered by the fact that ChatGPT, when given simple prompts, can reproduce "large parts of the song lyrics faithfully"

2

.

Source: France 24

Source: France 24

GEMA contends that this reproduction demonstrates that the lyrics are memorized within OpenAI's large language model, which forms the basis of their chatbot. Consequently, GEMA argues that this constitutes a copyright infringement, as permission was not sought to use the lyrics in this manner

3

.

OpenAI's Defense

OpenAI, however, presents a different perspective on the matter. The company argues that its large language models do not store or copy specific data. Instead, they claim that the models reflect in their settings what they have learned during the training process

1

.

Source: Economic Times

Source: Economic Times

Furthermore, OpenAI asserts that with regard to the AI chatbot, it is the users who are the producers of its output and should be held responsible for it

2

. This argument raises interesting questions about the nature of AI-generated content and the attribution of responsibility in such cases.

Implications and Future Outlook

The outcome of this case, scheduled for November 11, could have far-reaching implications for the AI industry and copyright law

3

. It may set a precedent for how AI companies can use copyrighted material in training their models and could potentially reshape the landscape of AI development and deployment.

TheOutpost.ai

Your Daily Dose of Curated AI News

Don’t drown in AI news. We cut through the noise - filtering, ranking and summarizing the most important AI news, breakthroughs and research daily. Spend less time searching for the latest in AI and get straight to action.

© 2025 Triveous Technologies Private Limited
Instagram logo
LinkedIn logo