Italy’s regulator is probing Suno’s terms, including a moral-rights waiver
The AGCM says Suno’s terms may be unfair to consumers, from price changes at will to accounts closed without notice and a sweeping license over user content.
Suno’s current terms make users “irrevocably waive any and all so-called ‘moral rights’ or ‘droit moral'” in the Content or their Voice Model. Italy’s competition authority now says that waiver runs against Law 633/1941, the country’s copyright statute. The AGCM opened an investigation into the terms on Tuesday, Music Business Worldwide reported. If you use Suno to make edits, intros or original tracks that end up in your sets or on a release, those are the terms they were made under.
The regulator says the terms “may be unfair” under Article 33 of the Consumer Code because they “may create a significant imbalance in the rights and obligations under the contract, to the detriment of consumers.” It says they “seem to give Suno broad discretion to make unilateral changes to the contract, the service and the subscription prices, without having to provide any justification.” They also “appear to allow the company to suspend, discontinue or terminate user accounts – as well as any associated content – at any time, for any reason and without prior notice,” which matches Suno’s own wording that it may do so “for any reason in Suno’s sole discretion.” If you keep AI-made edits and originals in a Suno account, the tracks can go with the login.
The AGCM says the copyright provisions deserve “particular attention.” Suno’s terms grant it a “perpetual, irrevocable” license over “any and all Content,” which covers what you submit and what the system generates from it. The regulator calls the license’s scope insufficiently defined, “framed in generic and all-encompassing terms.” That sits next to something Suno said last month: its v6 models were trained in part on “interactions including creations and preference signals” from its community. Suno made the statement in response to a second copyright lawsuit filed against it by Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment in Boston on September 18. If you plan to release Suno-made material under your name, or hand it to a label or licensing partner, Suno holds a permanent license and you have waived a layer of control.
Where you would fight about any of it is another matter. The AGCM says the terms appear to require binding individual arbitration administered in the United States, with tight deadlines and a waiver of class actions. Disputes that are not arbitrated fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of Massachusetts courts. The regulator adds that users are bound by additional terms they cannot read before signing up, and that Suno’s liability is limited “in very broad and generic terms, including in relation to personal injury.”
This is an investigation and no ruling has been made. The AGCM did not say which version of the terms it examined. The current one took effect on September 3, after Suno published it on August 10 alongside new monthly download caps for paying subscribers. Since 2023 the authority has had the power to fine over unfair contract terms, with penalties from €5,000 up to €10 million.
Until that plays out, it makes sense to download and archive anything you intend to play or release, to expect prices and limits to move, and to read the license and moral-rights clauses before a Suno track goes into a release, a pool upload or a licensing pitch. The AGCM says it will open a public consultation on its website “over the next few weeks,” open to national trade associations, affected chambers of commerce and recognized consumer groups.
