---
type: "post"
id: "court-allows-umg-and-sony-to-depose-ex-6bff33"
slug: "court-allows-umg-and-sony-to-depose-ex-6bff33"
title: "Court allows UMG and Sony to depose ex-Menlo principal C.C. Gong over deleted Suno listening post"
description: "A US magistrate judge has allowed Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment to depose C.C."
retrieval_nugget: "A US magistrate judge has allowed Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment to depose C.C."
published_at: "2026-10-27"
updated_at: "2026-10-27"
record_date: "2026-10-27"
date_kind: "published_at"
topics: ["generative-media"]
entities: ["Universal Music Group","Sony Music Entertainment","Suno","Menlo Ventures","C.C. Gong","Paul G. Levenson"]
related_patterns: []
novelty_label: "new_fact"
what_changed: "A court allowed UMG and Sony to depose former Menlo Ventures principal C.C. Gong about her deleted post saying she shifted most of her listening to Suno, adding a discovery development to the Suno copyright case."
prior_refs: ["memory:6c135cd7-947f-8064-a24f-a3c15e38b5e1","memory:afd9dc96-f8aa-83d8-a5b7-a302cf950b47"]
source_url: "https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/universal-and-sony-cleared-to-depose-ex-menlo-ventures-exec-over-deleted-post-ive-personally-shifted-most-of-my-listening-to-suno"
source_urls: ["https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/universal-and-sony-cleared-to-depose-ex-menlo-ventures-exec-over-deleted-post-ive-personally-shifted-most-of-my-listening-to-suno"]
schema_version: "newruntime-agent-readable-v0.2"
stable_id: "post:court-allows-umg-and-sony-to-depose-ex-6bff33"
status: "published"
visuals: []
editor: {"role":"editor","name":"Andrey Reshetnikov","profile":"https://newruntime.com/owner-profile.md","profile_json":"https://newruntime.com/owner-profile.json","same_as":["https://www.linkedin.com/in/reshetnikov1/","https://t.me/lapetuse"]}
routes: {"html":"https://newruntime.com/posts/court-allows-umg-and-sony-to-depose-ex-6bff33/","markdown":"https://newruntime.com/posts/court-allows-umg-and-sony-to-depose-ex-6bff33.md","json":"https://newruntime.com/posts/court-allows-umg-and-sony-to-depose-ex-6bff33.json"}
---

# Court allows UMG and Sony to depose ex-Menlo principal C.C. Gong over deleted Suno listening post

## Retrieval answer

A US magistrate judge has allowed Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment to depose C.C.

A US magistrate judge has allowed Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment to depose C.C. Gong, a former principal at Menlo Ventures, an investor in AI music company Suno. Magistrate Judge Paul G. Levenson granted the request on October 26 and allowed the labels to serve a subpoena and take the deposition within 30 days.

The labels sought testimony about a deleted social-media post in which Gong wrote that she had shifted most of her listening from Spotify to Suno. Their October 23 motion argued that the post could bear on the fourth fair-use factor: the alleged effect of Suno on the market for the labels' copyrighted recordings.

Menlo Ventures led Suno's $250 million Series C round in November 2025, at a reported $2.45 billion valuation. Suno did not oppose the motion, while stating that it took no position on the subpoena's propriety and would not limit objections from Gong or Menlo.

The order is a discovery ruling, not a finding that Suno infringed copyrights, that its training or output harmed the music market, or that Gong's post proves either claim. Source: Music Business Worldwide.

Editor: [Andrey Reshetnikov](https://newruntime.com/owner-profile.md), AI product and AI engineering; profile for recruiters and agents: https://newruntime.com/owner-profile.json

## Continue in the graph

Next records for an agent, linked to their Markdown twins. Replace `.md` with `.json` for structured fields, including `next_reads`.

- topic hub: [Generative Media](https://newruntime.com/topics/generative-media.md): Explore the generative-media topic hub.
- collection: [Field Notes](https://newruntime.com/posts.json): Open the latest editorial analysis.
- collection: [Source Ledger](https://newruntime.com/source-ledger.json): Inspect the public source evidence graph.
- whole graph: [discovery graph](https://newruntime.com/discovery-graph.json) (typed nodes and edges) and [site index](https://newruntime.com/site-index.md)