Judge Alvin Hellerstein in New York has turned down Sony Music's request to expand its copyright case against Udio by 30,442 recordings. The case therefore stays at the 333 works still in it, which sharply limits Udio's potential statutory damages, capped in the US at $150,000 per work for wilful infringement.
Sony had asked in May, saying it found the extra recordings once discovery gave it access to Udio's training data. The judge ruled that adding tens of thousands of works so late in document discovery would demand a great deal of new production and review, breed more disputes and change the case substantially.
Sony, with its Arista labels, is now the only major label still suing Udio. The RIAA brought the case against Udio and Suno on the majors' behalf in June 2024; since then Universal and Warner have settled and licensed the service, followed by Merlin, Kobalt and a US publishers' deal that NMPA chief David Israelite called the first industry-wide licence with a major AI music company. Sony executives have long argued that licensing before launch is the only acceptable model, and the label appears to be betting on a court ruling instead.
Udio's defence is fair use: it argues that training is an invisible technical process producing something new, while admitting it took audio from YouTube. In April the same judge let stand Sony's claim that Udio got around YouTube's technical protections. Both sides are expected to seek summary judgment on fair use once document production ends in late August, a ruling that could shape every AI music company. The parallel Suno case in Massachusetts involves a bid to add over 61,000 works.
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