Raue Secures Victory for GEMA in Munich Ruling That OpenAI Must License Song Lyrics

Raue represented the collecting society GEMA in proceedings against OpenAI before the Munich I Regional Court. The court held that OpenAI may not use copyright‑protected song lyrics by GEMA members to train its AI models when the models are capable of reproducing those lyrics; such use requires a licence. The regional court found that the memorisation of song lyrics within OpenAI’s language models constitutes copyright infringement and that reproductions available via ChatGPT amount to unauthorised public disclosure for which the consent of the authors or their collecting society is required. GEMA brought the action after it emerged that ChatGPT could reproduce copyrighted lyrics by artists including Helene Fischer, Herbert Grönemeyer and Rolf Zuckowski in response to direct prompts such as requests for the lyrics to specific songs. The regional court accepted GEMA’s arguments on all key points, marking the first time a German court has confirmed that AI providers cannot rely on unlicensed use of copyright‑protected works for model training where reproduction is possible. The ruling creates legal certainty for creative professionals, music publishers and online platforms across Europe and is likely to set a precedent with effects beyond Germany. (11 November 2025) Raue represented GEMA with a team composed by: Dr. Robert Heine, Dr. Felix Laurin Stang, Lisa Schopp.

Raue Secures Victory for GEMA in Munich Ruling That OpenAI Must License Song Lyrics

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