The UMG Recordings v. Suno is nearing the end of fact discovery. Judge Saylor, in Massachusetts, just issued two important rulings.
First, Judge Saylor is granting UMG Recordings leave to amend to add a DMCA anti-circumvention claim under Section 1201(a). After canvassing the case law on what constitutes an “access” as opposed to “copy” control measure, Judge Saylor found the disputed issue to involve factual issues that cannot be resolved on the pleadings.
Excerpt:
Second, Judge Saylor is denying UMG Recordings leave to amend to add 61,026 additional works to the current 560. But the Judge fully anticipates UMG may just file a second lawsuit, which would likely be related to this case and over which Judge Saylor would preside. But, given how close to the end of fact discovery this case is, with summary judgment motions on fair use on the horizon, Judge Saylor viewed the parallel lawsuit with a second lawsuit the lesser of two unappealing options. This is what happened in Concord Music I and II v. Anthropic, as well as in UMG Recordings I and Sony II v. Uncharted Labs.
ORDER GRANTING LEAVE TO ADD DMCA 1201(A) CLAIM
ORDER DENYING LEAVE TO ADD 61,026 additional works
