Sony and Warner Music Sue Anthropic Over Copyrighted Song Use in AI Training
Quick Look
- Sony Music and Warner Music have filed a lawsuit in U.S. federal court in California against Anthropic, alleging the company illegally used copyrighted song lyrics and sheet music from artists like The Beatles, Taylor Swift, and Michael Jackson to train its Claude AI models.
- The publishers seek up to $150,000 per infringed work and an injunction to stop further use of their content.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
This lawsuit is part of a growing trend of copyright holders suing tech companies over the use of their work to train AI systems. Universal Music Group previously sued Anthropic in 2023 and again this year over similar allegations, which remain unresolved. Anthropic settled a separate class-action lawsuit with authors last year for $1.5 billion.
The music publishing branches of Sony Music and Warner Music have sued Anthropic in United States federal court in California for allegedly misusing their copyrighted song compositions to train its Claude AI models.
Sony and Warner said in the complaint, filed on Friday, that Anthropic pirated hundreds of song lyrics and sheet music from The Beatles, Taylor Swift, Michael Jackson and hundreds of other artists to train Claude to respond to human prompts.
The lawsuit is the latest in a wave of cases brought against tech companies by copyright owners, including authors, publishers, music labels and news outlets, over the use of their work to train artificial intelligence systems. Universal Music Group sued Anthropic in 2023 and this year over the alleged use of copyrighted song lyrics in AI training in lawsuits that are still ongoing.
Anthropic became the first AI company to settle one of the disputes last year when it paid $1.5bn to resolve a class action from a group of authors.
“Anthropic clearly considers that to be just the cost of doing business given that its entire business model continues to be built on copyright theft,” Sony and Warner said in their complaint. “And $1.5bn is obviously not a large enough settlement to deter infringing conduct by a company that has parlayed such mass infringement into a staggering 2-trillion-dollar valuation.”
“This is the third lawsuit from the same lawyers, recycling allegations from cases already before the courts,” an Anthropic spokesperson said on Monday. The spokesperson also said the company will defend itself “robustly” and AI training makes fair use of copyrighted material, citing the judge in the authors’ case against it.
Spokespeople and an attorney for Sony Music and Warner Music did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday.
The complaint alleges Anthropic illegally obtained the publishers’ lyrics and sheet music through torrent downloads to train Claude and Claude can reproduce copyrighted lyrics “verbatim” when prompted.
Sony and Warner also said Anthropic used their lyrics to teach Claude to “generate vast quantities of purportedly ‘new’ AI-generated song lyrics, which compete with Music Publishers’ legitimate copyrighted works as harmful market substitutes”.
The labels are seeking damages of up to $150,000 for each infringed copyright and a court order barring Anthropic from using their works.
What to Watch
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
The court will likely rule on whether AI training on copyrighted music qualifies as fair use within the next 12–18 months.
Likely · Within months
Anthropic will continue to defend its position that AI training constitutes fair use, citing judicial precedent from the authors’ case.
Very likely · Immediate
If Sony and Warner prevail, other music publishers may file similar suits against AI companies.
Possible · Within months
Open Questions
- Will the court find that Anthropic's use of copyrighted lyrics constitutes fair use?
- What specific evidence do Sony and Warner have regarding torrent downloads?
- How will this case affect future AI training practices across the industry?
- Are other music publishers likely to join or file similar suits?
