NVIDIA’s venture capital arm has asked a federal court to stop Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment from forcing it to testify in their copyright lawsuit against Suno.
NVentures, which invested in Suno’s Series C funding round in November 2025, says it has already handed the labels 6,324 documents running to 28,194 pages.
Its motion, filed on Tuesday (November 10) in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, asks the court to cancel the labels’ demand outright. Failing that, NVentures wants the court to limit what it can be questioned about.
The public version of the motion, which is partially redacted, can be read here.
UMG, its Capitol Records label, and Sony sued Suno in June 2024, alleging that the AI music company copied their recordings to train its models.
Warner Music Group, originally a co-plaintiff, settled with Suno in November 2025 and signed a licensing deal.
In August, UMG and Sony were cleared to add a claim that Suno obtained recordings by “stream ripping” them from YouTube, as MBW reported.
The original lawsuit covers 560 recordings.
Statutory damages for willful infringement run up to USD $150,000 per recording, putting Suno’s theoretical exposure at $84 million.
The labels also seek up to $2,500 for each time Suno allegedly bypassed YouTube’s anti-download protections.
UMG and Sony filed a second lawsuit against Suno on September 18, covering a further 60,202 recordings with theoretical exposure of more than $9 billion on the same basis.
NVentures argues that it played no part in how Suno obtained or used the recordings at issue in the original case.
“NVentures had no role in that conduct,” the motion states. “It did not select, acquire, supply, or use Suno’s training data, develop Suno’s models, or operate its service.
“NVentures’ only role was to serve as an independent investor in Suno. In fact, NVentures was a minority investor in Suno’s November 2025 Series C financing, which closed more than a year after the underlying action began.”
NVentures’ motion
“NVentures’ only role was to serve as an independent investor in Suno. In fact, NVentures was a minority investor in Suno’s November 2025 Series C financing, which closed more than a year after the underlying action began.
“It holds no board, observer, or advisory position with Suno. Its limited investment does not justify making it a collateral source of testimony about Suno’s technology, business, and potential effects on the music industry.”
The labels’ subpoena, dated August 17, demanded that NVentures put forward a representative to answer questions under oath on 13 topics.
During negotiations, the labels dropped two topics and agreed to accept a written certification authenticating NVentures’ documents in place of testimony on a third.
That leaves 10 topics in dispute.
They cover NVentures’ dealings with Suno before it invested, its reasons for joining the Series C, its knowledge of Suno’s training data, and the materials Suno supplied during the investment process.
The labels also want testimony on NVentures’ own due diligence, on any internal analyses of Suno’s licensing costs and growth, and on what NVentures understands about the market for Suno’s service and about Suno’s effect on the music industry.
One amended topic, quoted in the motion, seeks: “Your communications with Suno concerning the risk of litigation related to Suno’s training data.”
“After months of negotiations, collection, and review, NVentures produced 6,324 documents comprising 28,194 pages,” the motion states. “Plaintiffs identified no deficiency in that production before demanding corporate testimony on thirteen topics.”
The motion adds that the labels “have made no effort at all to explain what information they cannot obtain from the voluminous production NVentures already made, or from Suno.”
“Considered together, these demands would turn a passive minority investor into a source of testimony about the defendant’s conduct and the economics of an entire industry,” NVentures argues. “Plaintiffs should obtain testimony about the defendant’s conduct from the defendant…
“And Plaintiffs should seek economic opinions about the music industry from an expert witness.”
“Suno is best positioned to describe its intended markets, users, and commercial activities,” NVentures says. “Plaintiffs are best positioned to testify about the impact of artificial intelligence, if any, on their own businesses and markets.”
“NVentures’ confidential, private investment analyses are proprietary and entirely irrelevant,” the filing reads.
If the labels win this fight, an NVentures representative would have to answer questions under oath about what the firm knows about Suno’s training data and what it discussed with Suno about the risk of litigation over that data.
The subpoena originally set the deposition for September 29, the day before fact discovery was then due to close. On October 30, the Boston federal court hearing the main case extended the deadline for some already-scheduled third-party depositions to November 20, according to the motion.
The labels are in a similar dispute with Lightspeed Venture Partners, which led Suno’s Series B round and has also moved to cancel their subpoena, as MBW reported in October. Unlike NVentures, Lightspeed holds a seat on Suno’s board, according to the labels.
Lightspeed also filed its motion in California, but it was transferred in October to the Boston court overseeing the main case.
In that dispute, UMG and Sony argued that investor files bear on Suno’s fair use defense and on whether any infringement was willful, which affects damages.
They told the court that “investor productions in this case have already yielded evidence of Suno’s knowledge and market strategy that Suno itself never produced.”
Menlo Ventures, which led the Series C round that NVentures joined, has also been drawn into the case.
On October 26, Magistrate Judge Paul G. Levenson cleared the labels to question C.C. Gong, a former Principal at Menlo, about a since-deleted social media post saying she had moved most of her listening to Suno, as MBW reported.
That Series C raised $250 million at a $2.45 billion valuation, with participation from NVentures, Hallwood Media, Lightspeed, and Matrix.
Suno raised more than $400 million at a $5.4 billion valuation in a Series D round in June 2026. NVentures made no other investment in Suno, according to the motion.
NVentures’ motion relies in part on a September 2025 ruling connected to the majors’ case against Suno rival Udio. UMG and Warner have since settled with Udio, but Sony is still suing.
NVentures cites the ruling to argue that courts have refused to make investors hand over internal analyses when there is no sign the investor holds anything the company, or public sources, could not supply.
The labels cited the same ruling in the Lightspeed dispute.
In that ruling, Magistrate Judge Kandis A. Westmore ordered Udio investor Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) to hand over documents the labels had subpoenaed, noting that one a16z partner sat on Udio’s board and another served as a board observer.
“In short, this is not a case where a16z was a mere passive investor, whose only role was deciding whether or not to invest in Udio,” Westmore wrote.
NVentures argues that it is the kind of investor Westmore distinguished: one with no board seat, “whose role was simply deciding whether to invest,” in the motion’s words.
NVIDIA Corporation, NVentures’ parent company, filed its own motion the same day to quash a separate deposition subpoena from the labels, according to the court docket. The same law firm represents both.
The labels’ responses to both motions are due November 24.
In January, UMG announced an AI collaboration with NVIDIA built around NVIDIA’s Music Flamingo model, as MBW reported at the time.
Announcing that deal, Richard Kerris, NVIDIA’s VP/GM of Media, pledged to “do it the right way: responsibly, with safeguards that protect artists’ work, ensure attribution, and respect copyright.”Music Business Worldwide
