Warner Music ends AI legal battle with Suno as SAP catches lawsuit

Warner Music Group has settled its copyright lawsuit with AI music startup Suno, moving from litigation to collaboration with the AI startup.

In another development, supply chain AI firm o9 Solutions has filed a lawsuit against SAP SE, alleging trade secret theft, highlighting the ongoing tensions around AI technology and intellectual property rights across different artificial intelligence subsectors.

Warner Group and Suno go from courtroom to partnership

The settlement between Warner Music and Suno ends a legal battle that began last year when major record labels sued the AI startup and its competitor Udio for using copyrighted material without compensation to artists or record companies. Suno had maintained a fair use defense but dropped it as part of the settlement agreement.

Under the terms of the deal, Suno will launch licensed AI models in 2026 to replace its current platform. The company will require users to pay for accounts if they want to download their AI-generated songs and upload them to streaming services, with paid subscribers facing monthly download caps. Free-tier users will be limited to playing and sharing music within the platform.

“This landmark pact with Suno is a victory for the creative community that benefits everyone,” said Robert Kyncl, Warner Music’s chief executive officer (CEO), in a statement. “With Suno rapidly scaling, both in users and monetization, we’ve seized this opportunity to shape models that expand revenue and deliver new fan experiences.”

“Our partnership with Warner Music unlocks a bigger, richer Suno experience for music lovers, and accelerates our mission to change the place of music in the world by making it more valuable to billions of people,” Mikey Shulman, CEO, Suno, said, adding that “this means we’ll be rolling out new, more robust features for creation, opportunities to collaborate and interact with some of the most talented musicians in the world, all while continuing to build the biggest music ecosystem possible.”

As part of the deal, Suno has acquired Songkick, Warner Music’s live music and concert-discovery platform, for an undisclosed amount.

Suno’s settlement comes roughly one week after it announced it had raised $250 million at a valuation of $2.45 billion. The startup says nearly 100 million people have used its platform to create music over the past two years. Warner Music has now also settled with both Suno and Udio, with the latter also settling with Universal Music.

SAP faces allegations of systematic theft

On the same day Warner Music announced its settlement with Suno, a fresh case was opened in Dallas federal court as o9 Solutions accused SAP of orchestrating a campaign to steal trade secrets related to supply-chain management software. The lawsuit names three former o9 executives now in senior positions at SAP, alleging they downloaded over 20,000 confidential files before departing to join the German software giant.

o9 Solutions, which is backed by KKR and General Atlantic and valued at $3.7 billion as of 2023, said it understood the importance of fair competition and employee mobility but could not allow its trade secrets to be misappropriated.

o9 claims that SAP, facing customer losses due to its outdated platform, targeted the startup’s proprietary technology and has since altered its software to closely mirror o9’s offerings.

The three defendants are Stephan de Barse, now president of SAP’s global business suite; Sean Zonneveld, now global chief revenue officer for procurement at SAP; and Stijn-Pieter van Houten, now chief product officer for supply chain management planning at SAP.

“SAP is committed to the highest standards of business ethics and respects the intellectual property rights of others,” the company said in a statement. “We will review o9’s complaint and will respond, as appropriate, within the legal process.”

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