{"slug": "sony-and-umg-can-add-a-youtube-stream-ripping-claim-against-suno", "title": "Sony and UMG can add a YouTube stream-ripping claim against Suno", "summary": "Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV allowed Universal Music Group and Sony to amend their copyright complaint against Suno on 18 August, adding a Digital Millennium Copyright Act anti-circumvention claim that Suno used the open-source tools YT-DL and YT-DLP to download YouTube audio for model training; the labels filed the amended version on 25 August. In a separate order the same day, the court declined to add 61,026 recordings to the 560 already at issue, a denial without prejudice. The ruling admits the stream-ripping allegation into the case but does not find that Suno pirated YouTube, and no damages have been awarded.", "body_md": "Rights & policy\n\n# Sony and UMG can add a YouTube stream-ripping claim against Suno\n\nThe Massachusetts court allowed a DMCA anti-circumvention theory into the case. It did not rule that Suno pirated YouTube or lose the copyright lawsuit.\n\n## AI-assisted\n\nAI assisted with research organisation, structure and drafting; the editor checked the published text against the linked docket and reporting.\n\nUniversal and Sony may add a claim that Suno circumvented YouTube's technical protections while collecting audio for model training. Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV allowed the labels to amend their complaint on 18 August, and they filed the amended version on 25 August.\n\nThe ruling admits the allegation into the case. It does not find that Suno committed piracy. The court said the technical dispute needs a factual record.\n\n## What the labels allege\n\nThe labels say YouTube uses a changing \"rolling cipher\" to control the route through which its player accesses media files. Their amended complaint alleges that Suno used the open-source tools YT-DL and YT-DLP to obtain recordings outside that authorised route.\n\n[Music Business Worldwide](https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/umg-and-sony-accuse-suno-of-pirating-youtube-via-stream-ripping-to-train-its-ai/) reports that the labels cited Suno's discovery responses, in which the company said it had downloaded audio from YouTube with those tools. The contested legal question is narrower: whether the tools circumvented an access control covered by section 1201(a) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.\n\nSuno argues that YouTube videos are already available to the public and that the rolling cipher is, at most, a control on copying rather than access. The judge did not resolve how the cipher or downloading tools actually operate. That question remains for later evidence and argument.\n\n## The court rejected a much larger expansion\n\nIn a separate order on the same day, the court declined to add 61,026 recordings to the 560 already at issue. The request came late in discovery and would have substantially expanded the case. The denial was without prejudice, leaving the labels able to pursue a separate related action.\n\nHeadlines calculating more than $9 billion in possible statutory damages describe a theoretical maximum for works that were not added to this case. No damages have been awarded.\n\n## Three distinct questions\n\nThe litigation now separates three issues that are often compressed into a single argument:\n\n1. how Suno acquired recordings;\n2. whether using them for training infringed copyright or qualifies as fair use;\n3. whether particular generated outputs infringe protected works.\n\nAllowing the first theory into the complaint does not decide the second or third. The [court docket](https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/68878608/umg-recordings-inc-v-suno-inc/) is the primary record for subsequent filings.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/sony-and-umg-can-add-a-youtube-stream-ripping-claim-against-suno", "canonical_source": "https://aimusic.events/news/suno-youtube-stream-ripping-claim", "published_at": "2026-08-25 12:00:00+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-09-14 12:37:56.763674+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-policy", "artificial-intelligence", "generative-ai"], "entities": ["Suno", "Universal Music Group", "Sony", "YouTube", "F. Dennis Saylor IV", "YT-DL", "YT-DLP", "Digital Millennium Copyright Act"], "also_reported_by": [], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/sony-and-umg-can-add-a-youtube-stream-ripping-claim-against-suno", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/sony-and-umg-can-add-a-youtube-stream-ripping-claim-against-suno.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/sony-and-umg-can-add-a-youtube-stream-ripping-claim-against-suno.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/sony-and-umg-can-add-a-youtube-stream-ripping-claim-against-suno.jsonld"}}