Sony, UMG Sue Suno Over v6 Model, Alleging Copyright 'Laundering'

3 articles · Updated · The Verge · Sep 25

Sony and Universal Music Group filed a new lawsuit alleging Suno’s v6 music model still infringes their copyrights despite being presented as a fresh system.
The labels say v6 was trained on user-generated outputs from earlier Suno models that were themselves built on unlicensed music allegedly ripped from YouTube and other sources.
Their complaint calls the process “model laundering” and also alleges Suno used distillation, with v6 trained to mimic older “teacher” models tainted by infringing data.
Jack Brody had said v6 was trained “from the ground up” with a new dataset including user data, but Suno has not detailed that data and Sony and UMG remain unsigned to any Suno licensing deal.
The suit sharpens a broader AI music dispute over whether retraining on outputs or derivative data can cleanse models originally built on unauthorized copyrighted works.