SOCAN Sues Suno in Canada Over 150 AI Outputs It Says Copy Songs

SOCAN says songwriters can use AI as a creative tool. But it has now sued Suno in Canada, alleging the music generator produced and streamed 150 publicly available outputs that copied protected songs without consent or compensation.

The Canadian music-rights organization filed the case Wednesday in the Federal Court of Canada. It alleges Suno used members’ music without permission to train its AI model, then made its platform and generated works available in ways that infringed SOCAN’s performing rights in underlying songs.

SOCAN’s claim is not limited to an accusation about what entered a training dataset. It identifies 150 Suno outputs that were publicly available and streamed through the service in Canada, and alleges that some contain all or substantial portions of works in its repertoire.

The organization has published side-by-side comparisons of selected generated outputs and original songs. The examples include Tom Cochrane’s Life is a Highway, Avril Lavigne’s Sk8er Boi, K. Maro’s Femme Like U, Alexisonfire’s Passing Out in America and Daniel Balavoine’s S.O.S. d’un terrien en détresse.

150Outputs named

SOCAN describes the listed outputs as a sample and expects further allegedly unauthorized outputs and activities to emerge during litigation.

Up to $20,000Statutory damages sought

SOCAN also seeks damages, a portion of profits allegedly tied to copied songs and punitive damages.

SOCAN’s theory reaches from the alleged collection of music to the delivery of output. It alleges Suno built its system using publicly accessible online music without rightsholder consent, and separately alleges infringement through making the service available in Canada, generating replica outputs and streaming them to users in Canada and elsewhere.

That makes the case about two distinct questions: whether protected music was used lawfully in developing the model, and whether the identified outputs and their distribution infringe copyright. SOCAN says the lawsuit is meant to establish that long-standing copyright principles apply to AI companies. Suno said it was reviewing the statement of claim and did not immediately provide a substantive response.

SOCAN is asking for a permanent injunction, damages and part of the profits it alleges Suno generated through infringement. It also wants the court to require Suno to comply with copyright law and stop making allegedly infringing outputs available, putting the service’s current distribution alongside claims for past monetary relief.

Suno has previously argued that using copyrighted works to train its models was allowed under fair use. It is also facing copyright-related lawsuits in the United States and Europe, and settled a lawsuit with Warner Music Group last year, according to Canadian Lawyer.

SOCAN says Suno launched in Canada in December 2023 without contacting the organization or obtaining its consent. The new lawsuit comes from a rights organization that says it represents more than 185,000 musicians and publishers, adding a Canadian collecting society to the companies, labels, artists and overseas rights groups already contesting Suno’s practices.

SOCAN’s public comparisons are evidence offered to support its allegations, not a court finding. The case will determine whether the alleged uses of music and the specific generated outputs constitute infringement, and whether any of SOCAN’s requested remedies are warranted.