Anthropic Faces One More Copyright Lawsuit As Sony Music, Warner & More Allege Illegal Downloads

Anthropic is back in court over how it allegedly obtained copyrighted material for AI training, this time facing Sony Music Publishing, Warner Chappell and other music publishers accusing the Claude maker of a “brazen campaign” involving copyrighted works.
 

TL;DR

 

• Sony Music Publishing, Warner Chappell and other publishers have sued Anthropic and co-founders Dario Amodei and Benjamin Mann.
• The lawsuit alleges Anthropic illegally torrented, scraped and downloaded copyrighted works to train Claude.
• Anthropic disputes the allegations and plans to defend itself in court.
• The case follows Anthropic’s $1.5 billion Bartz copyright settlement.

 

Sony Music, Warner, And Others Accuse Anthropic Of Using Pirated Works To Train Claude

The lawsuit was filed late Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and accuses Anthropic of “blatant theft” involving thousands of copyrighted works allegedly used to train Claude. Music Business Worldwide first reported the filing.

The publishers allege Anthropic conducted a “brazen campaign of illegally torrenting, scraping, and downloading copyrighted works.” The complaint names Anthropic alongside co-founders Dario Amodei and Benjamin Mann, putting the company’s methods of acquiring AI training material at the center of another copyright dispute.

Anthropic rejects the allegations.

“We disagree with the publishers’ claims and we intend to defend ourselves robustly in court,” an Anthropic spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
 

 

Anthropic’s New Copyright Battle Follows Its $1.5 Billion Bartz Case

This is not Anthropic’s first intellectual property lawsuit involving material used to train its AI products. Some lawyers behind the latest action also represent Concord Music Group and Universal Music Group in a separate case filed in January.

They also led Bartz v. Anthropic, where authors accused Anthropic of using copyrighted works to train products including Claude.

Anthropic was ordered to pay $1.5 billion in the landmark Bartz case after a judge determined that while using copyrighted works for AI training was legal, acquiring that content through piracy was not.

That distinction now provides important context for the latest allegations against the AI company.
 

 

Anthropic Lawsuit Expands Piracy Allegations To Books, Lyrics And Sheet Music

Although the cases make similar arguments, the newest complaint is notably broader. It builds on previous claims by accusing Anthropic of “flagrant piracy” through illegal torrenting used to obtain millions of copies of books.

According to the publishers, those books included works containing lyrics and sheet music, bringing music publishing rights directly into the dispute.

The lawsuit therefore focuses not only on Anthropic’s alleged use of copyrighted material for Claude’s training, but also on how that material was allegedly acquired.

For now, the publishers’ accusations remain allegations. Anthropic has disputed their claims and intends to fight the lawsuit in court.