ChatGPT Violated German Copyright Laws, Court Rules

A court in Munich has ruled that OpenAI’s chatbot ChatGPT violated German copyright laws by using popular music hits too train its language models, a landmark decision for creative industry advocates in Europe.

The Munich regional court sided with Germany’s music rights society GEMA, which argued that ChatGPT had harvested protected lyrics by popular artists to “learn” from them.

GEMA, which manages the rights of composers, lyricists, and music publishers with approximately 100,000 members, filed the case against OpenAI in November 2024.

The lawsuit was a key European test case in a broader campaign to stop AI from scraping creative output. OpenAI has the right to appeal the decision.

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ChatGPT functions by allowing users to ask questions and give commands to a chatbot, which responds with text mimicking human language. The model powering ChatGPT is trained on publicly available data.

The case centered on nine well-known German hits from recent decades, used by ChatGPT to refine its language skills.

These included Herbert Grönemeyer’s 1984 synth-pop song Männer (Men), a critique of masculinity, and Helene Fischer’s Atemlos Durch die nacht (Breathless Through the Night), which served as an unofficial anthem for the German team during the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

The judge presiding over the case ordered OpenAI to pay undisclosed damages for utilizing copyrighted material without authorization.

Kai Welp, GEMA’s legal advisor, stated the organization now intends to negotiate with OpenAI regarding compensation for rights holders.