Elvis Presley Rights Holders and Eminem's Publisher File New Lawsuits Against Suno

The Presley case is the more unusual of the two. Besides copyright infringement, it claims Suno broke Tennessee's Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security Act, known as the ELVIS Act. The 2024 law makes it illegal to clone a singer's voice with AI without authorisation. Few courts have tested it, so a ruling against an AI company would give performers' estates a route that does not depend only on copyright. Copyright claims over training data have so far produced mixed results.

The Presley plaintiffs include Authentic Brands Group and Raleigh Music Publishing. They filed a 51-page complaint in federal court in the Northern District of California. It argues that users can produce tracks echoing Presley's voice, and that Suno exploits his identity when users invoke his name. "Suno has mechanically encoded itself with artists' identities, hard-work, creativity, and time, and harnessed them all for a consistent conveyor belt of cold hard cash," the lawyers wrote, according to The Verge. Elsewhere the complaint accuses Suno of trying to "make human creativity obsolete" and says that "the next Elvis won't pick up a guitar."

Eight Mile Style's suit is a copyright case. It says Suno lets users generate music and lyrics that closely resemble Eminem tracks, including "Lose Yourself", "Without Me" and "The Real Slim Shady". Eminem himself is not a plaintiff. The same four lawyers, Richard Busch, Mark Block, David Niemierzycki and Andrew Davis, represent the plaintiffs in both cases, according to reports on the filings.

Suno denied the claims. Spokesperson Cat McCormack told The Verge that the company "exists to help people create new, original music, not to trade on anyone's name or likeness". She said Suno blocks prompts that name specific artists or songs and uses third-party providers to screen uploaded audio and lyrics for misuse. "We are always working to strengthen our guardrails and we will continue to add new safeguards that protect artists and our users," she said.

The new complaints closely follow a suit filed in September by Americana singer Jason Isbell and other musicians. That case seeks class-action status and alleges that Suno's platform lets users exploit artists' identities, but it does not claim copyright infringement directly. The musicians say users can get around Suno's name filters by typing an artist's real name instead of a stage name, or by adding spaces between the letters. Suno has denied those claims and told the court there was "nothing unlawful" about asking for a song in an artist's style.

The company also faces suits from Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group. The two labels sued once and then again over Suno's v6 model, which they called "the fruit of the same poisoned tree." Round Hill Music and Reservoir Media have also sued. Suno has settled with others in the industry. Warner Music Group dropped its case last year, and licensing deals with Warner, BMG and Believe helped build v6, which Suno released in September.

The litigation has not held back investors. Suno raised $400 million in June at a $5.4 billion valuation.

The Presley rights holders are also suing other AI companies. Authentic Brands Group and other Presley publishers sued Anthropic in federal court last month, claiming its Claude models were trained without permission on 274 Presley songs and seeking $48.6 million. Anthropic has denied the allegations. Eight Mile Style sued Meta in June for about $110 million, alleging unauthorised storage of 243 recordings. A federal judge in Michigan has let that case proceed to discovery.