UMG and Sony Sue Suno Again, Say v6 'Launders' 60,202 Recordings
TL;DR
- Audio fingerprinting in discovery expanded the infringement count 107-fold, from 560 to 60,202 recordings, showing AI music litigation grows in scope with each discovery phase.
- Sony and UMG filed a second separate lawsuit because a judge blocked adding the 60,202 recordings to the original case, establishing a stacking litigation strategy.
- Suno's own public language describing v6 as trained on 'accumulated learnings' and 'preference signals' from prior models became primary evidence of derivative infringement.
Sony Music and Universal Music Group filed a 45-page complaint against Suno on Friday in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, arguing that Suno's new 'v6' music model is still built on copyright-infringing training data.
The complaint's central metaphor is blunt. 'V6 is not a fresh start; it is the fruit of the same poisoned tree,' the labels write, according to Variety. The filing also argues that 'training a \'new\' model on the outputs of an infringing model does not eliminate the infringement; it launders it.'
The two labels identify 60,202 recordings they allege Suno infringed, and call that figure 'only a small portion' of total violations across Suno's model versions.
Suno launched v6 earlier in September with licensing deals from Warner Music, BMG, and Believe, partnerships we covered when they were announced. Sony and UMG did not sign, and their argument is that licensed inputs to v6 do not clean up a model whose foundation was trained partly on outputs from Suno's older, unlicensed systems.
A Suno spokesperson called the labels' claims 'fundamentally flawed on both the facts and the law,' saying the platform helps users 'learn the language of music and make something of their own.'
The labels are seeking a declaration of infringement, statutory damages, and attorneys' fees. Round Hill Music and the artist Jason Isbell have separate suits pending. It is the latest entry in a run of copyright cases our tracker has followed against generative-audio vendors this quarter.
What others are reporting
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Engadget Read →
Covers Suno's on-the-record rebuttal, the July 2026 hack revealing data scraping history, and frames the $9B+ damages ceiling as the core investment risk.
"These claims remain fundamentally flawed on both the facts and the law," Suno stated in response to the allegations.
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RuntimeWire Read →
Explains the second filing was required after a judge blocked expanding the original case; flags Suno's own technical transparency as self-incriminating evidence.
The case pushes directly into unresolved territory regarding whether model outputs and preference data carry copyright liability between generations.
Originally reported by variety.com
Read the original article →Original headline: UMG and Sony Sue Suno Again, Say Label-Backed v6 Model 'Laundered' 60,202 Infringing Recordings