Elvis rights holders sue Suno over songs and his voice

Elvis Presley’s rights holders and Eminem’s publisher separately sued Suno on Friday, November 6, 2026. Both cases were filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. Presley plaintiffs include Authentic Brands Group, Elvis Presley Enterprises’ ABG EPE IP, Raleigh Music Publishing and other rights holders. Their complaint is 51 pages long, case 3:26-cv-13398. It lists 859 songs, including “Can’t Help Falling in Love” and “All Shook Up.” It alleges copyright infringement alongside violations of Tennessee’s 2024 ELVIS Act and common-law right of publicity. Eight Mile Style separately sued over copyright in 269 compositions. Eminem is not a plaintiff. Damages sought reach $150,000 per song for wilful infringement, almost $129 million at the Presley maximum. Variety reported both suits.

The complaint describes an October 7, 2026 prompt consisting only of lyrics, with “E L V I S P R E S L E Y” spelled inside them. No artist tag was supplied. Plaintiffs say the resulting two tracks, both titled “He Is Still The King,” copy Presley’s voice. Plaintiffs also identify 33 recordings using his voice, including “Elvis in The Jailhouse Rock,” which they say remained live with more than 125,000 plays, MadRobot reports from the filing.

Suno says it does not trade on anyone’s name or likeness. It says it blocks prompts naming artists and songs, and uses third-party providers to screen uploaded audio and lyrics. In the Isbell case, its November 3, 2026 filing says its outputs do not reproduce real artists’ voices closely enough to confuse listeners. The Presley complaint calls that “unequivocally false.” These remain allegations, no court has established them and Suno denies them; the lyrics example shows a name passing inside lyrics, without establishing that its name filter fails generally.

A free-text lyrics box accepts the input this complaint attacks

If your paid product accepts lyrics or free-text prompts, consider where a user could put an artist’s name. The alleged example used the lyrics box rather than an artist-name field. Removing a singer selection menu would still leave users able to type a person’s name into the text your feature sends to the model.

The checks concern what the provider actually warrants in its contract and which inputs its safeguards screen.

Read the warranty’s scope and conditions. For filtering, establish whether screening covers artist tags, user-written lyrics or the prompt body. Suno says it screens uploads. Does directly typed text receive the same checks as an uploaded file? Voice and name claims arise under laws distinct from copyright, so a model provider’s copyright warranty alone does not make your product safe.

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