UMG and Sony ask court to force Suno investor Lightspeed to testify about 'legal risk of training data'

What happened

Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment filed an opposition brief on October 13 in Boston federal court (District of Massachusetts), asking the court to deny Lightspeed Venture Partners' motion to quash a subpoena in the labels' 2024 copyright infringement lawsuit against AI music generator Suno. The labels want Lightspeed — lead investor in Suno's $125 million Series B (May 2024) and a holder of a Suno board seat — to hand over documents and sit for a deposition.

What the labels say they are seeking

• Documents from June 7, 2025 onward and a deposition of a corporate designee, narrowing the subpoena from 20 deposition topics to 16.
• Testimony on the "legal risk of training data" and "regulation around training data and/or label lawsuits," as discussed in a Lightspeed document already produced in the case.
• Details of Lightspeed's role on Suno's board, Suno's "Partnerships Tracker," and pre-investment business relationships with Suno co-founders Michael Shulman, Keenan Freyberg, Georg Kucsko and Martin Camacho.

Why it matters for the case

The labels argue Lightspeed's files are relevant to Suno's fair-use defense and to whether Suno's alleged infringement was willful. Their brief says investor productions in the case "have already yielded evidence of Suno's knowledge and market strategy that Suno itself never produced." They also point to a September 2025 ruling in their parallel case against Udio, where a magistrate judge ordered Udio investor Andreessen Horowitz to comply with a similar subpoena.

Procedural status

Lightspeed filed its motion to quash on September 16 in the Northern District of California; it was transferred October 2 to the District of Massachusetts, where Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV oversees the labels' original 2024 suit against Suno. Lightspeed had earlier produced 152 documents in October 2025, covering only up to June 6, 2025. Magistrate Judge Paul G. Levenson declined Suno's request for a protective order covering investor subpoenas at an August 26 hearing. The labels ask for production within seven days and a deposition within 14 days; Lightspeed can file a reply by October 20 under a jointly proposed briefing schedule.

No ruling on the subpoena has issued. The article also notes the labels' September 18 second lawsuit against Suno covering 60,202 recordings, and that Warner Music Group settled with Suno in November 2025.