In this week's Legal Beat newsletter, YouTube makes a surprising argument, Lionel Richie protects his voice, Diddy wins another civil case and much more.
The YouTube streaming app is seen on a television screen on November 10, 2025.
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THE BIG STORY: AI music companies like Suno say it’s legal fair use to exploit millions of copyrighted songs without permission to build their models. But Google now has a much simpler argument: That you gave them permission when you uploaded music to YouTube.
In court filings last week, lawyers for the tech giant argued that a case filed by indie artists and songwriters must be dismissed because the songs in question had been shared on Google’s YouTube. They said the platform’s terms of service gave the company “a broad license to use the uploaded content” and “authorized the conduct alleged.”
