Elvis Presley Rights Owners Sue Suno Over AI Voice Cloning: ‘Elvis’ Identity Was Stolen’

The owners of Elvis Presley's intellectual property have filed a lawsuit against the AI music company Suno, alleging that the company violated the King of Rock 'n' Roll's likeness rights by stealing his voice. The case, filed by Elvis Presley Enterprises on November 6, 2023, also includes legally novel allegations that Suno allowed users to clone Presley's "unmistakable and iconic voice."

The lawsuit is one of the first major cases under Tennessee's ELVIS Act, a 2024 law aimed at addressing issues caused by AI and providing a weapon against deepfake creators. The act also allows lawsuits against tech firms that enable voice and image cloning. The lawsuit claims that Suno's actions stole and stored all of Elvis' humanity, history, despair, and triumph on servers, which Suno then used to generate massive amounts of money.

The Elvis owners' lawyer, Richard Busch, a veteran music litigator at Adams & Reese, stated that the AI company's actions were intentional, malicious, and fraudulent, and that it continues to do so to this day. Suno has faced numerous lawsuits over AI music, including from music labels for infringing on millions of copyrighted songs and a class action by smaller artists who claim the company stole their likenesses.

The new lawsuit will test the limits of the ELVIS Act and the extent to which AI companies can be sued for allegedly stealing a musical artist's identity.