Italy's competition authority opens an unfair-terms case against AI music company Suno, over its licence and a waiver of authors' moral rights

Italy's Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM) said on 6 October that it has opened proceedings against Suno Inc., the US company behind the generative AI music service, over the terms of service it applies to consumers. The authority says the clauses may be unfair under article 33 of Italy's Consumer Code.

The clauses it lists would let Suno change the contract, the service and subscription prices on its own; suspend, disable or delete a user's account “in qualsiasi momento, per qualsiasi ragione e senza preavviso” (at any time, for any reason and without notice); and broadly limit its liability.

The authority singles out copyright. It calls the licence users must grant Suno “eccessivamente indeterminato” (excessively indeterminate), because it is generic and all-encompassing, and it sets the required waiver of authors' moral rights against articles 20 and following of Italy's copyright law, law no. 633/1941. It also objects to arbitration in the United States, in Massachusetts, and to a waiver of class actions.

AGCM says it will soon publish a public consultation on its website for trade bodies, chambers of commerce and consumer associations. The case is about what users sign away when they use the service, not about what the model was trained on.

• Confirmed AGCM opened proceedings against Suno Inc. under article 33 of the Consumer Code over its terms of service (case CV278). AGCM
• Confirmed AGCM calls Suno's user licence excessively indeterminate and sets its moral-rights waiver against articles 20 and following of law 633/1941. AGCM
• Confirmed A public consultation will be published soon on the authority's website. AGCM