The company behind chatbot Claude is facing a new legal fight over the King of Rock and Roll. A unit of Authentic Brands Group, along with other owners of Elvis Presley's music rights, has sued Anthropic, alleging the company trained its AI models on 274 Presley songs without permission or payment.
The lawsuit, filed Friday, October 23, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, accuses Anthropic of infringing copyrights to the 274 songs without any license or payment, according to NBC News. The complaint names some of Presley's biggest hits, including “All Shook Up,” “Can't Help Falling in Love,” “Don't Be Cruel,” “A Little Less Conversation” and “Return to Sender.” Plaintiffs also include Raleigh Music Publishing, multiple trusts and at least one individual, as reported by The New York Times.
What the Lawsuit Alleges
According to the complaint, Anthropic's alleged infringement occurred throughout the entire development of its flagship Claude models and continues today, with the rights holders claiming users can still generate outputs that reproduce or adapt the copyrighted songs. The lawsuit also accuses Anthropic of circumventing measures meant to protect the music and of removing or altering copyright management information from the songs, per the Times report. The plaintiffs describe themselves as deeply protective of Presley's catalog and characterize Anthropic's business model as infringement at an unprecedented scale.
The rights holders are seeking $41.1 million in statutory copyright damages, calculated at up to $150,000 for each of the 274 works they allege were willfully infringed, the same NBC News report states. The suit also asks for a permanent injunction to stop further infringement and an order requiring Anthropic to destroy all unauthorized copies of the copyrighted works. Plaintiffs are seeking a jury trial, and a lawyer for the Presley music owners had not immediately responded to a request for comment, the Times noted.
Anthropic pushed back on the allegations. “We disagree with the claims and intend to defend this case fully,” the company said in a statement reported by NBC News.
Part of a Widening Legal Battle
Part of a Widening Legal Battle The Presley case lands amid a larger wave of lawsuits against Anthropic and other AI companies over the use of copyrighted musical works. In January, Universal Music, Concord Music Group and ABKCO Music expanded their lawsuit against Anthropic, according to the Times. BMG Rights Management, Sony Music Publishing and Warner Chappell Music have filed similar suits during the year, per the Times report.
Indie publisher Reservoir filed a pair of federal lawsuits against both Suno and Anthropic on Wednesday, October 21, alleging the companies used copyrighted songs to train their AI models, according to Billboard. Those suits identify songs including Joni Mitchell's “Big Yellow Taxi,” Johnny Cash's “Ring of Fire” and Madonna's “Papa Don't Preach,” and name artists such as Kings of Leon and Evanescence, per the Times. Reservoir's founder said the company was seeking to protect creators' rights.
In August, Round Hill sued Suno and Anthropic, alleging the companies used hundreds of the publisher's songs to train their AI models without permission, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Anthropic has already weathered one massive copyright reckoning: the company agreed last year to a $1.5 billion settlement in a separate lawsuit brought by authors over its alleged use of pirated books to train its AI models.
Suno's Different Path
Rival AI music firm Suno has taken a notably different route through similar litigation. Suno, the leading AI music firm, has long faced such litigation from major music companies and more recently from smaller publishers, Billboard reports. But Warner Music Group reached a settlement ending its lawsuit against Suno, and the AI firm has since struck similar deals with BMG and Believe, repositioning itself as a partner to record labels and artists rather than an adversary.
Suno went on to release its first models built with licensed music from Warner Music Group, BMG and Believe, according to the Los Angeles Times. Notably, none of those licensing deals have disclosed what artists will be paid, how many artists have opted in, or how much input individual musicians have over the use of their work, the Los Angeles Times reported. Universal and Sony have not settled their own claims against Suno, and in 2024, Universal, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner had sued both Suno and Udio for copyright infringement, according to the same report.
The Presley case is being described as one of the first major legal challenges brought directly by an artist's estate against an AI developer, according to The Guardian.
