January 19, 2026: GRUR Lecture by Professor Dornis

On January 19, 2026, Professor Dornis gave a lecture on the Munich District Court decision in GEMA/OpenAI (Munich District Court, November 11, 2025, 42 O 14139/24, GRUR 2025, 1917 – ChatGPT) as part of the GRUR lecture series organized by the Northern Regional Group in Hamburg. The court had ordered OpenAI to cease and desist from reproducing and making song lyrics publicly available.

Professor Dornis analyzed the three central copyright aspects: Are there reproductions inside the AI model? Does the TDM exception apply? What about the publicly making available of the model’s inside?

Courts in the United States and the United Kingdom have already decided on similar questions. With the Munich Regional Court’s decision, the discussion now appears to be gaining momentum in Germany as well. An appeal has been filed against the Regional Court's decision with the Munich Higher Regional Court.