Sony and UMG sue Suno over v6 model copyright infringement

September 25, 2026 at 08:51 PM2 min

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Sony Music and Universal Music Group filed a new lawsuit against AI music service Suno on September 25, 2026. The labels allege Suno's v6 model infringes their copyrights by training on user outputs from previous models that used unlicensed music. Suno has not signed a licensing agreement with the labels.

Key Facts

Sony and UMG filed the lawsuit on September 25, 2026, accusing Suno's v6 model of copyright infringement.
Suno's v6 model was trained on user outputs from previous models that used unlicensed music from YouTube and other sources, according to the complaint.
Sony and UMG are notable holdouts who did not sign a licensing agreement with Suno.
Suno's Jack Brody told The Verge that v6 was 'trained from the ground up, with a new set of data,' including 'user data.'
Sony alleges Suno used distillation to train v6, replicating results of previous 'teacher' models built on infringing data.

The Lawsuit

Sony Music and Universal Music Group filed a new lawsuit against Suno on September 25, 2026. The labels claim Suno's v6 model infringes their copyrights because it was trained on user outputs from previous models that used unlicensed music from YouTube and other sources. Sony and UMG are notable holdouts who did not sign a licensing agreement with Suno. In the complaint, Sony and UMG accuse Suno of 'model laundering,' stating that training a new model on outputs of an infringing model does not eliminate infringement but launders it.

Suno's Defense

When v6 launched, Suno's Jack Brody told The Verge it was 'trained from the ground up, with a new set of data,' including 'user data.' Suno later confirmed to Engadget that the data includes 'creations' from users, but would not elaborate further. Sony alleges Suno used distillation to train v6, meaning it was trained to replicate results of previous 'teacher' models created with infringing data. The complaint states that even a model not directly trained on plaintiffs' recordings is informed by and benefits from Suno's retained unauthorized copies.