Sony and Universal win a stream-ripping claim against Suno and lose the $9 billion expansion

Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV split the difference in Boston on August 18, 2026. He let Sony Music and Universal Music Group add a DMCA anti-circumvention claim against Suno over how it pulled training audio off YouTube. In a second order the same day, he denied their bid to grow the case by 61,026 recordings.

Both orders came out of motions the site has tracked since May. The labels moved to expand the work list after discovery indicated Suno trained on millions of their recordings, a change pushing potential statutory damages past $9 billion. Suno spent July arguing the expansion should fail, citing a parallel Udio ruling from Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein.

Why YouTube’s rolling cipher decides the Suno stream-ripping claim

The DMCA claim rests on a technical detail. YouTube keeps two URLs for every video: a page URL holding the player, and a hidden file URL holding the audiovisual file, encrypted with a periodically changing algorithm called a rolling cipher. Suno told the labels in discovery it downloaded audio from YouTube using YT-DL and YT-DLP.

Suno’s defense was categorical. Section 1201(a) bans circumventing access controls, not copy controls, and anyone can watch a YouTube video for free without a password or a paywall. Suno called YouTube “the paradigmatic online platform whose content is accessible without circumventing any” technological measure.

Saylor refused to settle it on the pleadings. He walked through the DVD-decryption line of cases and found Suno’s reading of them wrong.

“

On Suno's reasoning, the disc encryption would cease to be an access control if the movie studios gave out licensed DVD players for free with every disc.

Free access through an authorized route does not remove the control, in other words. The court also set aside the Lexmark line Suno leaned on, which applies only when a second route to the work exists without hitting the measure at all. Nobody suggested a way to reach the audio other than through the YouTube player. Saylor added a caveat worth keeping: it is not yet clear how YT-DL and YT-DLP work, and they may turn out to use an issued key rather than bypass the cipher. Deciding it needs a factual record.

What the 61,026-track denial means for Sony and Universal’s damages

The second order is the one with money attached. At up to $150,000 per work, 61,026 extra recordings is the difference between a large case and a catalog-scale one. Saylor denied it on timing rather than merit.

Fact discovery has already been extended to September 30, 2026, more than 18 months past the original deadline, and the labels filed the motion a month before the earlier close. Running discovery on 61,026 more works would delay resolution indefinitely and prejudice Suno, who is entitled to a timely answer on fair use. Denial came without prejudice, and the order sketches the alternative: file a second lawsuit, get it marked related under the district’s local rules, and land it back in front of the same judge.

Both sides have seen this play out already. Saylor cited Concord Music I and II against Anthropic, plus the pair of cases against Udio, where Sony filed a second suit over 30,117 recordings in July 2026 after Hellerstein blocked the same kind of expansion. Both orders are posted in full by Chat GPT Is Eating the World, and Bloomberg Law reported the anti-circumvention half first.