In the lawsuit filed in November 2024, GEMA (Gesellschaft für musikalische Aufführungs- und mechanische Vervielfältigungsrechte, German Society for Musical Performing and Mechanical Reproduction Rights) accused Open AI of reproducing protected song lyrics by German authors in its tool ChatGPT without having a licence.
In this dispute over the use of song lyrics, the Munich Regional Court ruled, on 11 November 2025, in favor of GEMA against ChatGPT’s operator OpenAI, finding that the US company had infringed copyrights of German artists over their song lyrics.
The Munich Regional Court decided that if Open AI wants to use song lyrics by German musicians to train ChatGPT, it must obtain a GEMA licence.
This ruling represents one of the first decisions in Europe regarding generative AI and copyrights, and can potentially influence future decisions in this area.
Our Intellectual Property, Technology and Personal Data team is available to advise on issues related to AI and copyright.
