Canadian collective management organization SOCAN has filed a federal lawsuit against AI platform Suno, accusing it of infringing the copyrights of more than 150 works in its repertoire. The case sets a precedent by focusing on the outputs generated by the AI—not just on the data used to train it.
Toronto, Canada – The legal battle between the music industry and artificial intelligence is heating up in North America. SOCAN, Canada’s leading copyright collective, has taken Suno, an AI-powered music generation company, to court over what it calls “willful and conscious” infringement of its catalog.
The statement of claim, filed today before the Federal Court of Canada, lists a total of 150 tracks generated by the platform that, according to the plaintiffs, are “identical or substantially similar” to protected songs. Among the most striking examples cited in the filing are Joni Mitchell’s Both Sides Now, Avril Lavigne’s Sk8er Boi, Tom Cochrane’s Life is a Highway, and Daniel Balavoine’s S.O.S. d’un terrien en détresse.
The core of the accusation
Unlike previous lawsuits Suno faces in Europe—where German society GEMA and Danish society Koda focus on the illegal copying of data to train the AI model—SOCAN’s strategy is novel and targets the end product. The lawsuit argues that the infringement lies not only in the training process, but in the generation and transmission to Canadian users of derivative works that replicate the melodic, harmonic, and lyrical essence of the original compositions.
The 42-page filing includes side-by-side “note-for-note” comparisons. In one of the most revealing passages, SOCAN claims that a user entered only the lyrics of Both Sides Now into Suno’s tool, and the system returned a version that was practically identical to Joni Mitchell’s iconic song. In the case of Sk8er Boi, the AI changed some of the lyrics to Korean and labeled the output as a “K-pop remix,” but the musical structure remained, in the plaintiffs’ view, substantially unchanged.
Injunctions and financial claims
SOCAN is not only seeking monetary compensation. The lawsuit requests two court orders: a permanent injunction prohibiting Suno from continuing to infringe the rights of the 150 songs mentioned, and a “broad injunction,” a Canadian legal mechanism that would extend protection to all works represented by the society, now and in the future. Given that SOCAN manages virtually all copyrighted musical works currently used in Canada, this would effectively amount to a de facto block on Suno’s operations in the country.
In financial terms, the organization is seeking statutory damages of CA$20,000 per infringed work, which, applied to the 137 unique songs cited, would total approximately CA$2.74 million (roughly US$2 million). On top of this, SOCAN is claiming an additional CA$10 million in punitive and exemplary damages, arguing that Suno’s conduct has been deliberate. The final amount could increase, as SOCAN reserves the right to add more songs to the list as the litigation progresses.
SOCAN’s stance and the defense of human creativity
Jennifer Brown, SOCAN’s Chief Executive Officer, stated that the organization has “a responsibility to act when the rights of music creators and publishers are at risk,” and emphasized that “innovation cannot come at the expense of human creativity.” Andrea Kokonis, SOCAN’s Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel, insisted that the goal of the litigation is “to establish that AI companies must respect long-standing copyright principles.”
The lawsuit also takes aim at Suno’s technical safeguards. SOCAN argues that Suno’s recent implementation of so-called “guardrails” to prevent infringing generations—introduced years after the platform’s launch—demonstrates that the company was fully aware of the unlawful nature of its business model and could have taken action much sooner to mitigate the harm.
A precedent in a global context
This litigation comes just one month after Germany’s GEMA obtained a favorable first-instance ruling against Suno in Munich—a decision the company has said it will appeal. Meanwhile, Denmark’s Koda has maintained an ongoing action in Copenhagen since November 2025.
SOCAN is represented by the law firm Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP, with Casey M. Chisick, Eric Mayzel, Andrew Skodyn, and Katherine Graham acting for the society. SOCAN has announced that it will not make further comments beyond the court record. The case has been proposed to be tried in Toronto, and its outcome could mark a milestone in the regulation of generative artificial intelligence applied to music in North America.
The resolution of this lawsuit will not only affect Suno and SOCAN, but will set a benchmark for the entire tech sector: how far can AI go without trampling on creators’ rights? As Canadian courts examine the musical notes generated by algorithms, the industry waits to see whether the scales will tip not only toward innovation, but also toward justice for artists.
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