The Munich Regional Court I is establishing itself as a centre for German AI case law

The Copyright Chamber of the Munich Regional Court I (42nd Civil Chamber) certainly cannot complain of a lack of interest or attention at present.
The court has become known for its involvement in AI-related cases, following its ruling on 11 November 2025 in the matter of GEMA v OpenAI (Case No. 42 O 14139/24). The case concerned the reproduction of the lyrics of various musical works in response to simple prompts. (See separate report dated 19 November 2025.)

The court ruled against OpenAI on the basis that the company had assumed the lyrics had been memorised and stored within the system. The court could not explain the identical reproductions otherwise. The appeal is pending.

The Munich I Regional Court has now heard a similar case concerning musical works themselves, rather than their lyrics (GEMA v. Suno.ai, Ref. 42 O 763/25). The claimant argued that, in response to simple prompts, almost identical copies of selected musical works were created that differed only slightly from the originals. Following the hearing in early March, a judgment is expected in early June 2026. It seems likely that the court will apply the same principles.

A further lawsuit (filed 27 March 2026; case number as yet unknown) is pending in proceedings between Penguin Random House and OpenAI. This case concerns children’s books by the author Ingo Siegner (The Little Dragon Kokosnuss). Here, too, original texts could be reproduced based on simple prompts. The case could therefore have a similar outcome to the GEMA proceedings.

Also pending before the Munich I Regional Court is a lawsuit brought by the authors’ associations DJV and ver.di against the Süddeutsche Zeitung (ref. 42 O 5002/25). The Süddeutsche Zeitung had secured AI rights to the journalistic contributions of freelance authors through clauses in its general terms and conditions. A decision is expected at the end of June 2026.