AI Incident Database: ChatGPT Reportedly Found to Reproduce Protected German Lyrics in Copyright Case
A Munich regional court ruled that ChatGPT reportedly reproduced protected German song lyrics and that OpenAI's models were trained on copyrighted texts, including works by musician Herbert Grönemeyer, without authorization. The court reportedly found both memorization of nine songs and lyric output to infringe exploitation rights. OpenAI disputes the ruling and may appeal. Damages were ordered, with implications for AI training on copyrighted works.
AI Incident Database · Incident 1278Operator lens (medium): inspect D3 (data handling), D7 (tool permissions).
Event summary
A Munich regional court ruled that ChatGPT reportedly reproduced protected German song lyrics and that OpenAI's models were trained on copyrighted texts, including works by musician Herbert Grönemeyer, without authorization. The court reportedly found both memorization of nine songs and lyric output to infringe exploitation rights. OpenAI disputes the ruling and may appeal. Damages were ordered, with implications for AI training on copyrighted works.
Linked entities
- OpenAI
vendor | 70%
- songwriters
organisation | 70%
- publishers
organisation | 70%
- musicians
organisation | 70%
- herbert-gronemeyer
organisation | 70%
- german-songwriters
organisation | 70%
- german-publishers
organisation | 70%
- german-musicians
organisation | 70%
- german-artists
organisation | 70%
- gema
organisation | 70%
- artists
organisation | 70%
Related graph edges
| Edge | Type | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| ent-vendor-openai to ent-psf-d1 | maps to | 60% |
| ent-vendor-openai to ent-psf-d1 | maps to | 60% |
| ent-vendor-openai to ent-psf-d1 | maps to | 60% |
| ent-vendor-openai to ent-psf-d2 | maps to | 60% |
| ent-vendor-openai to ent-psf-d2 | maps to | 60% |
| ent-vendor-openai to ent-psf-d2 | maps to | 60% |
| ent-vendor-openai to ent-psf-d6 | maps to | 60% |
| ent-vendor-openai to ent-psf-d6 | maps to | 60% |
| ent-vendor-openai to ent-psf-d6 | maps to | 60% |
| ent-vendor-openai to ent-psf-d2 | maps to | 60% |
| ent-vendor-openai to ent-psf-d2 | maps to | 60% |
| ent-vendor-openai to ent-psf-d2 | maps to | 60% |