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December 2, 2025

Top Noteworthy Copyright Stories from November 2025

by Rachel Kim

Licensing discussions between AI companies and copyright owners has been on the upswing, especially since the settlement in the Anthropic case was announced. In November, there was game-changing news on this front with the announcement of landmark settlements in two music AI copyright cases and new AI partnerships. In November, we also saw the filing of a few new copyright infringement cases against AI companies, bringing the number of total cases filed to 60. Here is a quick snapshot of the top copyright news stories from November 2025.

Author Files Class Action Lawsuit Against Salesforce

On November 5, author Tasha Alexander filed a class action lawsuit against Salesforce over the unlicensed use of her books to train Salesforce’s CodeGen and XGen series of large language models (LLMs). Similar to another authors’ class-action lawsuit filed against Salesforce, the complaint alleges that the training datasets used to develop Salesforce’s LLM models included the “C4,” “Red Pajama,” and “The Pile,” which include pirated copies of books sourced from Common Crawl and notorious pirate websites, including Library Genesis (Lib-Gen), Bibliotek, and Z-Library. The complaint includes one claim of direct copyright infringement.

Entrepreneur Media Files an AI Lawsuit Against Meta

On November 6, Entrepreneur Media, LLC filed a complaint against Meta over the unlicensed use of Entrepreneur magazines, articles, and books to train Meta’s Llama model. The publishers argue that Meta is liable for downloading and using pirated copies of publishers’ copyrighted books and magazine articles sourced from the pirate website, Library Genesis (LibGen). The complaint includes three claims of direct copyright infringement, secondary copyright infringement, and violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) by removing or altering Copyright Management Information (CMI).

New Author Class-Action AI Lawsuit Filed Against Snowflake

On November 21, author Darius James filed a class-action lawsuit in the District of Montana Butte Division against AI company, Snowflake Inc. over the unlicensed use of plaintiff’s books to train Snowflake’s suite of “Arctic” large language models (LLMs). The plaintiff alleges that Snowflake utilized the Red Pajama dataset, which included copies of pirated works and plaintiff’s works, for AI training. The lawsuit includes one claim of direct copyright infringement.

WMG Settles Lawsuits Against Udio and Suno

On November 19, Warner Music Group (WMG) announced that it settled its AI copyright infringement lawsuit against Udio. The settlement agreement includes a licensing deal where WMG artists can opt-in to license their works to develop Udio’s new subscription service, which will be launched next year. On November 25, WMG and Suno announced that the parties had settled a lawsuit filed by record labels against Suno over the unlicensed use of music from the record labels’ repertoire to train Suno’s AI model. According to the announcement, Suno will launch an entirely new model in 2026 that are “more advanced and licensed models” while current models will be phased out. According to the announcement, “[a]rtists and songwriters will have full control over whether and how their names, images, likenesses, voices, and compositions are used in new AI-generated music.” Free tier users of the new AI model will not be allowed to download audio outputs but instead can play or share them. Paid tier users have limited monthly download caps and the ability to pay for additional downloads. Suno also acquired WMG’s Songkick discovery platform and will incorporate it with its AI services.

WMG and Stability AI Strike Partnership Deal

On November 19, Warner Music Group (WMG) announced that it entered into a new partnership with Stability AI to develop “professional-grade tools that enable artists, songwriters, and producers to experiment, compose, and produce using ethically trained models.”

Major Record Labels Enter Licensing Deals with AI Music Startup Klay

On November 19, reports indicated that the three major record labels, Universal Music Group, Sony Music, and Warner Music Group, all now have licensing agreements with Klay, a new AI-enabled music streaming service that will combine features of a traditional music streaming platform and allow users to remake songs in different styles using AI. Klay is the first AI music platform to secure agreements with all three major labels and has licensed thousands of hit songs to train its large language model, positioning itself as an industry-aligned alternative by offering artists and labels some control over how their work is used.

Briefs Filed in Thomson Reuters’ AI Lawsuit Against Ross Intelligence

On November 19, Thomson Reuters filed its brief in its ongoing lawsuit against Ross Intelligence (Ross) alleging that Ross obtained and copied copyrighted legal content from a Westlaw subscriber to develop its own competing product based on machine learning. Thomson Reuters argues that Westlaw headnotes more than sufficiently meet the originality standard for copyrightability and that Ross’ copying does not qualify for the fair use exception under all four factors. The brief stresses that the fourth factor in particular weighs against Ross because of the substitutive and harmful market effects of Ross’ services and the deprivation and inhibition of the licensing markets for Westlaw content. On November 26, the Copyright Alliance filed an amicus brief in support of Thomson Reuters arguing that Ross’s attempt to cast aside longstanding precedent to misrepresent the Westlaw Headnotes as non-copyrightable would have critically damaging consequences for the Copyright Alliance’s members across many creative industries. The brief also explains that past fair use cases are not analogous to the Ross’s unauthorized use of the Westlaw Headnotes and that Ross’s infringement harms creators’ licensing markets. Other amicus briefs filed in support of Thomson Reuters include briefs filed by the Association of American Publishers (AAP), Disney, Paramount, Sony Pictures, Universal City Studios, and Warner Bros. Entertainment, News/Media Alliance, a group of IP law professors, Relx, and Recording Industry Association of America and National Music Publishers’ Association.   

German Court Holds OpenAI Liable for Copyright Infringement in AI Case

On November 11, a three-judge panel in the Civil Chamber of the Regional Court of Munich I ruled in favor of German music royalties collecting society, GEMA, in its lawsuit launched against OpenAI over the unlicensed reproduction of song lyrics from GEMA’s repertoire in training OpenAI’s large language model, ChatGPT. According to the press release, the court found that there were infringing reproductions of the song lyrics in versions 4 and 4o of ChatGPT and in subsequent outputs. The court also rejected OpenAI’s arguments that there was no infringing reproduction of the song lyrics because only statistical inferences and data were being extracted and stored from the works, stating that “[t]he definition in mere probability values is irrelevant. New technologies such as language models would be [violating] reproduction law …” Crucially, the court also found that because OpenAI’s activities “interfered with the rightsholder’s right of exploitation,” the AI company could not avail itself of the Article 4 text-and-data mining (TDM) exception. Lastly, the court stated that OpenAI was liable for infringing outputs because such outputs were heavily influenced by OpenAI’s engineering of the ChatGPT models to reproduce and “memorize” protected song lyrics. As remedies, the court granted damages and injunctive relief. OpenAI reportedly intends to appeal the decision.

Danish Music Rights Group Sues Suno

On November 4, Danish music rights organization Koda filed a copyright lawsuit against Suno in Copenhagen City Court over the unlicensed use of its members’ repertoire to train Suno’s generative AI music model. Koda’s lawsuit also includes allegations that Suno engaged in stream-ripping from YouTube and scraping song lyrics.

UK Court Rules in Favor of Stability AI in Getty Lawsuit on Secondary Copyright Infringement

On November 4, a UK High Court judge issued a decision in the lawsuit launched by Getty Images against Stability AI over the unlicensed use of Getty Images’ visual and audiovisual works to train Stability AI’s Stable Diffusion model. The court noted that its decision was narrowly focused on the legal claims that Stability AI is liable for secondary copyright infringement and trademark infringement, and that “[i]t is not part of this court’s task to consider issues that have been abandoned or to consider arguments that are no longer of relevance to the outstanding issues.” The question presented on the secondary copyright infringement claim was whether Stability AI could be held liable for making available for download model weights of various versions of Stable Diffusion via Hugging Face. Getty conceded that Stable Diffusion’s model weights did not contain copies of the stock photo company’s works but argued that Stability AI’s acts of repeatedly optimizing the Stable Diffusion model by using infringing copies of Getty’s works would be enough for the court to hold Stability AI liable for secondary copyright infringement. The court disagreed, stating that because UK law requires that an “infringing copy” contain or store a copy of the copyrighted work and because the evidence on record showed that model weights did not contain copies or reproductions of Getty’s works, Stability AI was not liable for secondary copyright infringement.

House Bill Introduced to Modify Appointments of Register of Copyrights and Other Legislative Branch Officers

On November 12, Representative Morgan Griffith (R-VA) introduced H.R. 6028, the Legislative Branch Agencies Clarification Act, which would modify the appointment and removal process for certain legislative branch officers including making the Librarian of Congress a Congressional appointee and the Register of Copyrights a Presidential appointment confirmed by the Senate. Regarding the Register’s appointment, the bill would create a process whereby the House Judiciary Committee and Senate Judiciary Committee would recommend three individuals whom the President may consider in making an appointment. The bill would make the Register position a ten-year term renewable for one or more additional terms of five years each.

Briefs Filed with SCOTUS in Dismissal of Register of Copyrights Case; SCOTUS Defers Case

On November 10, Shira Perlmutter filed an opposition brief in response to the U.S. Government’s emergency application to stay an injunction granted by the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit that restored Perlmutter to her position as Register of Copyrights. In her brief, Perlmutter argues that the true question is whether the Library of Congress is considered an executive agency under Title Five of the U.S. Code, and that the Trump Administration lacks statutory authority to appoint an Acting Librarian of Congress and the authority to remove Perlmutter directly. Perlmutter also argues that the injunction pending appeal was proper. On November 12, the U.S. government filed its reply brief reiterating its prior arguments that the Librarian of Congress and Register of Copyrights are a part of the executive branch, and that the government is likely to succeed in showing that the dismissal was lawful, and Perlmutter is not entitled to equitable relief that restored her to office. On November 26, the U.S. Supreme Court deferred its decision in the case until after it rules on other cases filed against the Trump Administration involving the removal of a member of the Federal Trade Commission (Trump v. Slaughter) and a member of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors (Trump v. Cook). The Court issued a brief, unsigned order, which says that Justice Thomas would have granted the application for a stay.

VLANY Webinar on Legal Issues in Photography

On December 2 from 5-6 p.m. ET, the Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts New York (VLANY) will host a webinar dedicated to key legal issues in street and public-space photography, including rights, restrictions, protections, and strategies for managing challenges unique to photographers. The session is designed for all levels of photographers as well as those who are looking to use or license others’ photographs. More information is available on the registration page.

VLANY Webinar on Legal Issues in Film & TV

On December 4 from 5-6 p.m. ET, the Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts New York (VLANY) will host a virtual session on navigating the essential legal issues in film and television, including contracts, copyright, defamation, streaming, and licensing. The event will dive into the key legal issues that shape the world of film and TV and explore the essentials of contract and copyright law. Attendees will learn about copyright, streaming, music licensing, and registration requirements. The session is designed for artists, attorneys, and anyone looking for practical guidance in navigating the complex rules that protect and challenge creators in film and TV. More information is available on the registration page.

CCC Webinar on AI and Copyright Compliance

On December 10 from 12-12:45 p.m. ET, Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) will hold a webinar titled AI and Copyright Compliance: Translating Legal Uncertainty into Practical Strategies for Managing Risk. The event will focus on providing attendees with an understanding of risks and opportunities regarding building and using trustworthy AI workflows. It will also offer practical strategies for managing copyright risk including how to protect your organization during the age of artificial intelligence. The event’s speakers are Roanie Levy, Legal Advisor, CCC, and Michael Larrobino, Director, Product Management, CCC. More information is available on the registration page.

If you aren’t already a member of the Copyright Alliance, you can join today by completing our Individual Creator Members membership form! Members gain access to monthly newsletters, educational webinars, and so much more — all for free!

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