Sony and Universal Want Lightspeed on the Stand About AI Training Data

Sony and Universal aren't backing down in their legal fight with AI music startup Suno. The two giants just filed in Boston federal court to force Lightspeed Venture Partners—one of Suno's main investors—to testify about what they knew regarding the legal risks around training AI on copyrighted music.

Lightspeed tried to get out of it. They filed a motion to quash the subpoena, basically saying "we don't want to show up." Labels said nah. In their filing last week, Sony and Universal laid out why Lightspeed's testimony matters: the investor likely has inside knowledge about whether Suno understood the legal minefield they were walking into when building their model.

This is a big part of the bigger lawsuit—the labels claim Suno trained their AI on massive amounts of copyrighted music without permission. If the court forces Lightspeed execs to answer questions, it could reveal whether the startup knew this was legally risky from day one. That kind of knowledge can matter a lot in copyright cases.

The fight over discovery is heating up. We'll see what the judge decides.

Read the full story at Music Business Worldwide → https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/sony-and-universal-ask-court-to-force-suno-investor-lightspeed-to-testify-about-the-legal-risk-of-training-data/