{"id":136876,"date":"2025-11-13T16:24:59","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T00:24:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/11\/13\/openai-dealt-copyright-loss-in-german-music-case\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T16:24:59","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T00:24:59","slug":"openai-dealt-copyright-loss-in-german-music-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/11\/13\/openai-dealt-copyright-loss-in-german-music-case\/","title":{"rendered":"OpenAI Dealt Copyright Loss In German Music Case"},"content":{"rendered":"

There have been myriad global responses to the intellectual IP scrape and combine known general as AI. Artists of all kinds have called for bans on AI for stealing their work without compensation while industry giants in AI have gone so far as to call for getting rid of IP altogether<\/a>. Our homegrown response is overwhelmingly on the side of AI \u2014 if Peter Thiel and Elon Musk\u2019s close associations with everyone in power isn\u2019t enough, at one point there were murmurs of passing a moratorium preventing ANY regulation of AI for a 10-year period<\/a>. If that weren\u2019t enough, Sarah Friar soft launching (for Sam Altman to then walk back<\/a>) the government bailing out OpenAI if they don\u2019t turn a profit<\/a> makes it seem like America is squarely pro-AI. Despite the general stronghold AI has on the US, there\u2019s been some local pushback when it comes to large language models used for musical purposes. Big names have tried to limit what AI can do, Jay-Z took legal action over AI making use of his musical likeness<\/a> for example, but the balance still looks to be in AI\u2019s favor: Xania Monet\u2019s recent success as a Billboard-placing \u201cAI musician\u201d <\/a>and \u201cWalk My Walk\u201d being at the top of the Country charts<\/a> suggests that consumers think AI music is fair game. It also doesn\u2019t hurt that the usual and popular propaganda venues are pushing for the normality of AI music:<\/p>\n

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\n
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Joe Rogan to Elon: \u201cAI music is disturbing because it\u2019s my favorite music now. There are AI covers\u2026 they will blow your mind. This is my favorite thing to do to people.<\/p>\n

This guy, if this were a real person, would be the #1 music artist in the world\u2026 The most soulful, potent\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/EDPyHr03xn<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Edward M. Druce (@EdwardMDruce) November 1, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Things have been a little different across the pond. Sir Elton John has been spearheading the artistic push back against the theft <\/a>required for musical AI to flourish and has asked the government to set limits on how AI can be used musically in order to save the future for artists. And while his focus has been on his government, he has enough sense to know that a fight to prevent AI from replacing musicians has to be a united front: even if the UK comes down strong with laws protecting artist IP, what good does it do if Americans can feed those songs to an LLM and get the same results?<\/p>\n

It looks like Germany is one of the first countries to answer the call. An artist sued OpenAI over the use of their song lyrics and they actually won the case! Reuters<\/a> has coverage:<\/p>\n

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OpenAI\u2019s chatbot ChatGPT violated German copyright laws by reproducing lyrics from songs by best-selling musician Herbert Groenemeyer and others, a court ruled on Tuesday, in a closely watched case against the U.S. firm over its use of lyrics to train its language models.<\/p>\n

The regional court in Munich found that the company trained its AI on protected content from nine German songs, including Groenemeyer\u2019s hits \u201cMaenner\u201d and \u201cBochum\u201d.
\u2026
GEMA legal advisor Kai Welp said GEMA hoped discussions could now take place with OpenAI on how copyright holders can be remunerated.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This is a huge outcome for both sides. For European artists, this case could be a template to be compensated when AI infringes on their rights. For OpenAI, it acts as a reminder that there can be consequences for their actions so long as robust IP protects creators. In short, this is the sort of outcome you\u2019d know OpenAI would want to appeal even if they didn\u2019t tell you directly. After a company spokesperson told Reuters that they were considering next steps, they made sure to frame the loss as a limited setback that doesn\u2019t threaten their business model too much. Let\u2019s see how well that characterization ages. <\/p>\n

OpenAI Used Song Lyrics In Violation Of Copyright Laws, German Court Says<\/a> [Reuters]<\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>: Elton John Calls Government \u2018Losers\u2019 For Letting Tech Firms Skirt Copyright Laws<\/a><\/p>\n

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<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord\u2122 in the Facebook group\u00a0Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . \u00a0He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who is learning to swim,\u00a0is interested in critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at\u00a0cwilliams@abovethelaw.com <\/a>and by tweet at\u00a0@WritesForRent<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The post OpenAI Dealt Copyright Loss In German Music Case<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

There have been myriad global responses to the intellectual IP scrape and combine known general as AI. Artists of all kinds have called for bans on AI for stealing their work without compensation while industry giants in AI have gone so far as to call for getting rid of IP altogether<\/a>. Our homegrown response is overwhelmingly on the side of AI \u2014 if Peter Thiel and Elon Musk\u2019s close associations with everyone in power isn\u2019t enough, at one point there were murmurs of passing a moratorium preventing ANY regulation of AI for a 10-year period<\/a>. If that weren\u2019t enough, Sarah Friar soft launching (for Sam Altman to then walk back<\/a>) the government bailing out OpenAI if they don\u2019t turn a profit<\/a> makes it seem like America is squarely pro-AI. Despite the general stronghold AI has on the US, there\u2019s been some local pushback when it comes to large language models used for musical purposes. Big names have tried to limit what AI can do, Jay-Z took legal action over AI making use of his musical likeness<\/a> for example, but the balance still looks to be in AI\u2019s favor: Xania Monet\u2019s recent success as a Billboard-placing \u201cAI musician\u201d <\/a>and \u201cWalk My Walk\u201d being at the top of the Country charts<\/a> suggests that consumers think AI music is fair game. It also doesn\u2019t hurt that the usual and popular propaganda venues are pushing for the normality of AI music:<\/p>\n

Things have been a little different across the pond. Sir Elton John has been spearheading the artistic push back against the theft <\/a>required for musical AI to flourish and has asked the government to set limits on how AI can be used musically in order to save the future for artists. And while his focus has been on his government, he has enough sense to know that a fight to prevent AI from replacing musicians has to be a united front: even if the UK comes down strong with laws protecting artist IP, what good does it do if Americans can feed those songs to an LLM and get the same results?<\/p>\n

It looks like Germany is one of the first countries to answer the call. An artist sued OpenAI over the use of their song lyrics and they actually won the case! Reuters<\/a> has coverage:<\/p>\n

\n

OpenAI\u2019s chatbot ChatGPT violated German copyright laws by reproducing lyrics from songs by best-selling musician Herbert Groenemeyer and others, a court ruled on Tuesday, in a closely watched case against the U.S. firm over its use of lyrics to train its language models.<\/p>\n

The regional court in Munich found that the company trained its AI on protected content from nine German songs, including Groenemeyer\u2019s hits \u201cMaenner\u201d and \u201cBochum\u201d.
\u2026
GEMA legal advisor Kai Welp said GEMA hoped discussions could now take place with OpenAI on how copyright holders can be remunerated.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This is a huge outcome for both sides. For European artists, this case could be a template to be compensated when AI infringes on their rights. For OpenAI, it acts as a reminder that there can be consequences for their actions so long as robust IP protects creators. In short, this is the sort of outcome you\u2019d know OpenAI would want to appeal even if they didn\u2019t tell you directly. After a company spokesperson told Reuters that they were considering next steps, they made sure to frame the loss as a limited setback that doesn\u2019t threaten their business model too much. Let\u2019s see how well that characterization ages. <\/p>\n

OpenAI Used Song Lyrics In Violation Of Copyright Laws, German Court Says<\/a> [Reuters]<\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>: Elton John Calls Government \u2018Losers\u2019 For Letting Tech Firms Skirt Copyright Laws<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord\u2122 in the Facebook group\u00a0Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . \u00a0He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who is learning to swim,\u00a0is interested in critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at\u00a0[email\u00a0protected] <\/a>and by tweet at\u00a0@WritesForRent<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There have been myriad global responses to the intellectual IP scrape and combine known general as AI. Artists of all kinds have called for bans on AI for stealing their work without compensation while industry giants in AI have gone so far as to call for getting rid of IP altogether. Our homegrown response is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":136877,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-136876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Chris-Williams-2025-bpnj6S.jpg?fit=512%2C288&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136876\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}