YouTube AI Lawsuit, Lionel Richie Trademark, Diddy Case Ruling & More Top Music Law News

THE BIG STORY: AI music companies like Suno say it’s legal fair use to exploit millions of copyrighted songs without permission to build their models. But Google now has a much simpler argument: That you gave them permission when you uploaded music to YouTube.

In court filings last week, lawyers for the tech giant argued that a case filed by indie artists and songwriters must be dismissed because the songs in question had been shared on Google’s YouTube. They said the platform’s terms of service gave the company “a broad license to use the uploaded content” and “authorized the conduct alleged.”

For more, go read the full story here — and stick with Billboard for more on the legal battles over the future of AI.

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Other top stories this week…

– Lionel Richie applied for trademarks on his voice, including his iconic song lyric, “Hello, is it me you’re looking for?” He joins Taylor Swift and a growing chorus of stars who are turning to such novel legal efforts to protect their voices against AI cloning.

– Federal prosecutors accused a North Carolina man of defrauding the latest incarnation of Napster by falsely pledging $3.36 billion he never had.

– Sean “Diddy” Combs won the dismissal of another civil lawsuit, this one filed by a winner of MTV’s Making the Band who claimed he harassed and assaulted her.

– A month after Stephen Colbert played copyrighted Peanuts music during the final taping of The Late Show in a joking effort to get CBS sued, the TV network signed a licensing deal to avoid any legal issues from the incident.

– A “perpetual” lawsuit against Ricky Martin — over a song released for the 2014 FIFA World Cup — was rebooted yet again by a federal appeals court, nearly 12 years after it first started.

– The composers of the University of Michigan’s iconic “Let’s Go Blue” song filed counterclaims in a legal battle with their publisher over its use in EA’s College Football video games.

– Pooh Shiesty got a February 2027 trial date in the bombshell criminal case that alleges he forced Gucci Mane to sign a record deal release at gunpoint.

– 50 Cent’s attorney faced a brutal grilling from New York appeals court judges as he argued that the star deserved to automatically win a lawsuit he filed against an ex-girlfriend.

– Lil Baby’s hemp company was hit with counterclaims after launching a lawsuit that accused its joint venture partner of shipping illegal and contaminated cannabis products across the country.

– Chris Brown reached a settlement to exit a lawsuit that accused him of withholding royalties from a co-writer of the 2022 track “Monalisa” and 2023 song “Sensational.”

– An artist has dropped his lawsuit accusing Quavo of violating copyright law by rapping in front of a quartz sculpture of a 1961 Ferrari in a TikTok promo video.