Google filed a motion to dismiss a federal copyright lawsuit this week, arguing that its YouTube terms of service granted it broad rights to use uploaded content for AI training, including to develop its Lyria music generation model.

As Variety reports, attorneys from Quinn Emanuel filed the 41-page motion in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The filing argues that a group of independent musicians cannot prove Google trained Lyria on their specific works, and that such use would not constitute infringement even if it did.

“Even accepting their untested allegations as fact, the Complaint cannot stand,” the filing stated. “Plaintiffs each granted YouTube, and Google – which provides the service – a broad license to use the uploaded content. That license, present in YouTube’s Terms of Service, authorized the conduct alleged in the Complaint.”

Google’s defense centers on a clause in YouTube’s terms of service granting the platform and its parent company a “worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable and transferable license” to uploaded content, permitting Google to “reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works, display and perform it” as part of its business operations.

A Different Legal Strategy

The terms of service argument distinguishes Google from other AI companies facing similar litigation. Competitors, including Suno, Udio, and Anthropic, have each relied on fair use arguments in copyright cases brought by Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group, and Sony Music Entertainment. 

Suno and Udio have since settled portions of that litigation and reached licensing deals with Warner and Universal. Sony’s cases against Suno and Udio and Universal’s case against Anthropic remain active.

What Google Has and Has Not Confirmed

Google has previously acknowledged using YouTube content to train other AI products. YouTube CEO Neal Mohan said in an April 2024 interview with Bloomberg that “some portion” of YouTube videos may be used to train models such as Gemini. A subsequent YouTube blog post stated that “we use content uploaded to YouTube to improve the product experience for creators and viewers across YouTube and Google, including through machine learning and AI applications.” 

Google also confirmed to CNBC that it uses YouTube uploads to train Gemini and Veo. The company has not specifically confirmed that YouTube uploads were used to train Lyria. When asked directly, Google declined to comment.

The lawsuit was filed in March 2026, roughly one month after Google released Lyria 3 within its Gemini app. The 118-page complaint, structured as a proposed class action, alleges that Google’s ownership of YouTube and its Content ID rights-management system gave it structural leverage to build a music AI from copyrighted recordings without securing licenses.

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