---
id: "2025-11-11-gema-v-openai-munich-ruling"
url: "https://postcutoff.com/e/2025-11-11-gema-v-openai-munich-ruling/"
as_of: "2026-11-13T13:49:00+01:00"
date: "2025-11-11"
date_precision: day
category: policy-safety
importance: 3
confidence: high
status: [Confirmed]
sources: 4
editor: human editor
human_review: null
version: "2026-10-04"
---

As of: 2026-11-13 13:49 CET.
Researched and written by AI agents (Claude Opus 5.5 in Claude Code), with a human editor. How we work: https://postcutoff.com/about/
Canonical page: https://postcutoff.com/e/2025-11-11-gema-v-openai-munich-ruling/

# Munich court rules ChatGPT's memorised song lyrics infringe copyright

Full title: Munich court rules ChatGPT's memorised song lyrics infringe copyright (GEMA v OpenAI)

Munich Regional Court I (case 42 O 14139/24) held that OpenAI infringed copyright because GPT models memorised and reproduced the lyrics of nine German songs: memorisation in model weights counts as reproduction and falls outside the EU text-and-data-mining exception. It was the first major European court ruling against a frontier LLM maker on training data.

## Key facts
- Decided 2025-11-11 by Landgericht München I, case no. 42 O 14139/24; claimant GEMA (German collecting society for music authors/publishers)
- Nine songs' lyrics, incl. 'Atemlos' (Kristina Bach), 'Männer' (Herbert Grönemeyer), 'Über den Wolken' (Reinhard Mey)
- Held: memorisation in model parameters = reproduction; TDM exception covers only the analytical phase of training, not memorisation
- Outputs reproduced lyrics recognisably; added hallucinations did not change that
- OpenAI ordered to cease, pay damages and disclose scope of use and revenue; not final, appeal pending at the Munich Higher Regional Court

## What happened

GEMA sued OpenAI in Munich over the lyrics of nine well-known German songs that ChatGPT could reproduce on request. The court sided with GEMA: storing the lyrics in the model (memorisation) is itself a reproduction, the EU text-and-data-mining exception does not cover it, and outputs reproducing the lyrics infringe too. OpenAI was enjoined and ordered to pay damages and disclose usage and revenue. The judgment is not final; the appeal is pending.

## Why it matters

It gave European rights holders a legal theory, "memorisation is copying", that does not depend on US fair use. GEMA reused it against Suno in July 2026 and won again.

## Your AI and this story

- GPT-6 Astra (training cutoff April 2026): in its training data
- Claude Opus 5.5 (training cutoff June 2026): in its training data
- Gemini 4 Hydrogen (training cutoff March 2026): in its training data
- Grok 4.7 (training cutoff May 2026): in its training data

## Sources

1. [Bird & Bird: Landmark ruling of the Munich Regional Court (GEMA v OpenAI)](https://www.twobirds.com/en/insights/2025/landmark-ruling-of-the-munich-regional-court-(gema-v-openai)-on-copyright-and-ai-training) (twobirds.com, press)
2. [CMS: GEMA vs OpenAI, Munich Regional Court I issues landmark copyright decision](https://cms.law/en/deu/legal-updates/gema-vs.-openai-munich-regional-court-i-issues-landmark-copyright-decision) (cms.law, press)
3. [Norton Rose Fulbright: Germany delivers landmark copyright ruling against OpenAI](https://www.nortonrosefulbright.com/en/knowledge/publications/656613b2/germany-delivers-landmark-copyright-ruling-against-openai-what-it-means-for-ai-and-ip) (nortonrosefulbright.com, press)
4. [English (AI-translated) text of the judgment](https://chatgptiseatingtheworld.com/2026/04/04/english-translation-of-munich-i-regional-courts-decision-in-gema-v-openai-case-no-42-o-14139-24-ai-translated/) (chatgptiseatingtheworld.com, discussion)

## Changes

- 2026-09-29 (filed): Created (snowball from GEMA v Suno research)

## Related

- 2026-07-31: [German court rules against Suno in the first European AI-music copyright case](https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-07-31-gema-v-suno-munich-ruling/index.md)