Google told a federal court this week that its YouTube terms of service grant AI models, like its music generator Lyria, broad rights to train their platforms using licensed work as it seeks to dismiss a lawsuit alleging such use was illegal.
In a 41-page legal filing Monday, attorneys with the law firm Quinn Emanuel told the court that the lawsuit’s indie music plaintiffs — singer Sam Kogon, producer Magnus Fiennes, songwriter Michael Mell, the R&B group Attack the Sound, the family folk rock duo Stan Burjek and James Burjek and the Chicago-based band Directrix — could not prove their claims that Google used their specific works to train its AI models. But, if it had, such use would not be illegal.
“Even accepting their untested allegations as fact, the Complaint cannot stand,” the motion to dismiss read. “Plaintiffs each granted YouTube, and Google—which provides the service—a broad license to use the uploaded content. That license, present in YouTube’s Terms of Service, authorized the conduct alleged in the Complaint.”
A Google spokesperson did not immediately respond to an request for additional context. An attorney representing the plaintiffs did not respond to a request for comment.
