Suno Moves to Dismiss Isbell Publicity Lawsuit — SkimNews
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Jason Isbell joined David Lowery, Guy Forsyth and Eduardo Calle in a federal class-action lawsuit against Suno in August, alleging violations of state publicity laws when users request tracks that sound like named artists.
- Suno moved to dismiss the suit in its first response on Tuesday, arguing there was “nothing unlawful” about prompts invoking musicians’ identities to shape generated tracks.
- Andrew Gass said Suno’s prompting is no different from a musician asking a producer for “more of a Jason Isbell vibe,” and argued the First Amendment protects using artist names as genre shorthand.
- Congress made a considered policy choice not to protect artistic styles through intellectual-property law, and Gass said Isbell’s state-law theory would create a “shadow” IP regime conflicting with the federal regime in place for more than two centuries.
- Jason Isbell’s lawsuit targets artist identity and alleged voiceprints rather than copyright, a theory distinct from copyright-focused litigation that has prompted multiple Suno lawsuits and settlements.
- The plaintiffs alleged that Suno retained “voiceprints” users could access by requesting an artist’s “tone and phrasing,” using a real name instead of a stage name, or spacing out letters as in “t a y l o r s w i f t”; Suno denied the claims.
Why it matters: Jason Isbell and three other musicians are using state publicity law to target artist identity and alleged voiceprints, rather than the copyright theory behind other Suno litigation and settlements. Suno’s First Amendment defense therefore puts the four plaintiffs’ identity-based claims—not model training or copyright infringement—at the center of the dispute.
Ask SkimNews
