Udio seeks dismissal of copyright suit in Illinois

A New York AI music startup is trying to dodge a copyright lawsuit in Illinois by claiming the court has no power over a company with zero operations there.

Udio filed a motion to dismiss the case on Friday

• Uncharted Labs operates Udio and asked a federal judge to toss the claims.
• Chicago-area artists like Attack the Sound filed the lawsuit in October 2025.
• The 100-page complaint accused Udio of training models on copyrighted recordings without permission.
• Stream-ripping from YouTube allegedly bypassed anti-piracy protections on the platform.

The company argues Illinois court lacks personal jurisdiction over it

• Udio is incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in New York City.
• The startup claims it has no employees or operations in Illinois.
• Country musician Tony Justice filed an earlier lawsuit in New York with similar claims.
• Udio wants the case transferred to New York for convenience purposes.

Plaintiffs say Udio deliberately exploited the Illinois market for business

• David Woulard performs as Davo Sounds and works as a Chicago firefighter.
• Members of Cthe hicago band Directrix and other independent artists joined the suit.
• Udio routes Illinois users to servers in Chicago through its content delivery network.
• The company processes subscription payments from Illinois residents for recurring transactions.

Udio settled major label lawsuits and now licenses music for AI training

• Universal Music Group reached a settlement with Udio in October 2025.
• Warner Music Group dropped its lawsuit in November after a licensing agreement.
• Merlin partnered with Udio in January to license recordings for AI models.
• The company is hiring a Head of Artist Partnerships in LA or NYC.