OpenAI’s ChatGPT violated German copyright laws by using hits from successful artists to train its language models, a court in Munich has ruled.

Reports reveal that the case was filed against OpenAI in November 2024 by the collecting society GEMA, which manages the rights of composers, lyricists, and music publishers. It has approximately 100,000 members in Germany, but represents copyrights for over two million rights holders worldwide. While some are describing the result as a “landmark European ruling”, OpenAI itself disagrees with the outcome, and says it “respects the rights of creators and content owners”.

• READ MORE: Universal accused Udio of “unimaginable scales” of copyright infringement. That lawsuit’s just been settled – here’s what we know

As reported by The Guardian, the case centred around nine German hits, which were “used by ChatGPT to hone its language capabilities”. This includes Herbert Grönemeyer’s 1984 track Männer (Men), and Helene Fischer’s Atemlos Durch die Nacht (Breathless Through the Night).

The presiding judge has ordered OpenAI to pay undisclosed damages for using copyrighted material without permission, and GEMA legal adviser Kai Welp says the organisation now hopes to negotiate with OpenAI on how rights holders can be compensated.

OpenAI can appeal against the ruling, and right now, it’s not happy with the outcome. The company argued that its language models do not store or copy specific songs, but rather learn patterns and generate new outputs based on them. Because its output is generated by users via their prompts, it argued that they “should be held legally liable for it” – this was rejected by the court.

GEMA’s chief executive, Tobias Holzmüller, says, “Today, we have set a precedent that protects and clarifies the rights of authors: even operators of AI tools such as ChatGPT must comply with copyright law. Today, we have successfully defended the livelihoods of music creators.”

OpenAI says in an official statement, “We disagree with the ruling and are considering next steps. The decision is for a limited set of lyrics and does not impact the millions of people, businesses and developers in Germany that use our technology every day.”

It continues, “We respect the rights of creators and content owners and are having productive conversations with many organisations around the world, so that they can also benefit from the opportunities of this technology.”

The post ChatGPT ordered to pay undisclosed damages for violating German copyright laws  appeared first on MusicTech.