Sony and Warner Sue Anthropic Over Alleged AI Training Piracy

Music publishers escalate AI copyright battle

Sony Music Publishing and Warner Music Publishing filed a federal lawsuit against Anthropic on Friday in California, alleging the AI company systematically pirated copyrighted song lyrics and sheet music to train its Claude chatbot. The complaint names works from The Beatles, Taylor Swift, Michael Jackson, and hundreds of other artists as material Anthropic allegedly used without authorization.

According to the publishers' filing, Anthropic obtained their copyrighted material through torrent downloads and used it to train Claude to respond to user prompts. The lawsuit claims Claude can reproduce copyrighted lyrics "verbatim" when asked and generates new AI-created lyrics that directly compete with the publishers' legitimate works.

Why it matters

This case represents the music industry's continued push to establish legal boundaries around AI training data at a moment when generative AI companies are racing to scale their models. The publishers explicitly reference Anthropic's $1.5 billion settlement with authors last year—not as evidence of accountability, but as proof the company treats copyright infringement as an acceptable business expense given its reported $2 trillion valuation. The outcome could influence how AI companies source training data and whether existing copyright frameworks adequately protect creative works in the age of machine learning.

Third lawsuit from same legal team

An Anthropic spokesperson characterized the case as "the third lawsuit from the same lawyers, recycling allegations from cases already before the courts." The company said it would mount a "robust" defense and maintained that AI training constitutes fair use of copyrighted material, citing judicial language from the ongoing authors' case.

Universal Music Group previously sued Anthropic in 2023 and again this year over similar allegations involving copyrighted lyrics. Those cases remain active in the courts.

Publishers seek maximum statutory damages

Sony and Warner are requesting damages of up to $150,000 for each infringed copyright—a figure that could reach into the hundreds of millions of dollars given the scope of alleged violations. The publishers also want a court order preventing Anthropic from using their works in future AI training.

In their complaint, the music publishers argued that Anthropic's business model "continues to be built on copyright theft" despite the company's previous settlement. They contend the AI-generated lyrics Claude produces function as "harmful market substitutes" that undermine the commercial value of original compositions.

The lawsuit joins a growing wave of copyright litigation against technology companies from authors, publishers, news organizations, and other content creators challenging the use of their work to train AI systems without compensation or consent.

These details were first reported by Al Jazeera.