Elvis rights owner sues Suno over AI voice cloning
The company that controls Elvis Presley's name, image and music has taken an AI music service to court. The case goes beyond song copying: it asks whether a tool can be held liable when its users can summon a famous voice.
What the complaint says
Elvis Presley Enterprises filed the suit against Suno on Friday, Nov. 6. The unit belongs to Authentic Brands Group and controls much of Presley's song catalog and the rights to his name, image and likeness.
It makes two kinds of claims. One is copyright: that Suno trained on songs such as "Can't Help Falling in Love," "Don't Be Cruel," "All Shook Up" and "Return to Sender." The other is about identity. The complaint says Suno lets users clone Presley's voice.
The complaint was filed by Richard Busch of Adams & Reese. It says Suno acted "intentionally, maliciously, and fraudulently" to profit and to compete with Elvis' likeness and copyrights.
The Tennessee law behind it
The likeness claims rest on the ELVIS Act, a Tennessee law enacted in 2024. Before it, a likeness claim usually needed a commercial angle, such as a fake ad. The act lifted that requirement and also reaches firms that supply the tools behind unauthorized copies of a voice or image.
Billboard describes the case as one of the first major tests of the law. It also calls the Elvis suits the most significant action by an individual musician over AI so far.
Suno's defence and the reply to it
Suno says it does not allow prompts that name specific artists or songs. It also says it works with third-party providers to screen uploaded audio and lyrics. A spokeswoman said the company will keep adding safeguards.
The complaint calls those claims "unequivocally false." It links to videos where Suno's platform plays sound-alike Presley songs. It says a name in lyrics was enough last month to produce an Elvis clone. In earlier likeness litigation, Suno's lawyers argued that artist names are only shorthand for a genre.
A crowded docket for Suno
The same lawyers filed another case against Suno the same day for Eight Mile Style, the publisher that owns much of Eminem's catalog. It alleges training on "Lose Yourself," "Stan" and other songs.
Suno was first sued in 2024 by the three major music companies. It settled with Warner Music Group last year. It is still litigating with UMG and Sony Music. Publishers Round Hill Music and Reservoir have also sued, and so has Jason Isbell with other artists over likenesses.
Weeks earlier, the same Presley owners sued Anthropic over training Claude on Elvis songs. The new complaint uses similar copyright accusations.
Source: Billboard