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Suno is continuing its legal fight to keep the terms of its settlement agreement with Warner Music Group confidential as copyright litigation involving major record labels and AI music technology intensifies.
The dispute stems from a federal lawsuit originally filed in 2024 by Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group against Suno over allegations of unauthorized use of copyrighted recordings in AI model training.
Warner Music later exited the case after reaching a settlement and broader partnership agreement with Suno in late 2025. That deal included a licensing arrangement as well as Suno’s acquisition of the concert discovery platform Songkick from Warner Music.
Now, Universal and Sony are seeking details of that agreement through discovery, arguing that the partnership goes beyond a simple legal settlement and includes forward-looking licensing terms that may be relevant to the ongoing lawsuit.
However, a federal magistrate judge previously denied the request, ruling that settlement agreements generally offer limited value when determining broader market standards or damages calculations in intellectual property disputes.
In a newly filed response, Suno’s legal team accused Universal and Sony of trying to relitigate an issue they had already lost in court. The AI company argued that revealing the Warner settlement would unfairly expose sensitive negotiation strategies and potentially discourage future settlements across the industry.
Suno’s lawyers also pushed back against claims that the Warner agreement should be treated as evidence of market pricing for AI music licensing. According to the filing, settlements reached during litigation are often shaped by legal risk and therefore do not necessarily reflect standard commercial negotiations.
Meanwhile, Universal and Sony maintain that the Warner agreement is relevant because it allegedly includes future licensing rights involving AI training data. The labels argue that the deal could help demonstrate how Suno values copyrighted recordings in the development of its generative AI systems.
The legal battle arrives during a period of escalating tension between AI companies and the music industry, as record labels increasingly seek compensation, licensing frameworks and legal protections surrounding the use of copyrighted music in artificial intelligence training.
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