Anthropic Faces $3B Copyright Lawsuit From Major Music Publishers Over AI Training Practices
AI analysis firm Anthropic is dealing with a brand new copyright lawsuit filed on Wednesday within the US District Court for the Northern District of California by a gaggle of main music publishers, together with Universal Music Group, Concord and ABKCO. The grievance alleges that the corporate improperly used copyrighted musical works to coach its Claude chatbot with out authorization.
According to the publishers, Anthropic unlawfully reproduced and included greater than 700 particular person compositions, together with track lyrics and sheet music for titles equivalent to “Wild Horses” by the Rolling Stones, Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline,” and Elton John’s “Bennie and the Jets.” The submitting additional claims that the corporate’s use of protected materials extends past these examples and impacts 1000’s of further works owned or administered by the plaintiffs.
In a public assertion accompanying the submitting, the publishers mentioned they’re pursuing infringement claims protecting greater than 20,000 songs in whole and are searching for statutory damages that would exceed $3 billion. They described the motion as probably one of many largest non-class motion copyright instances ever introduced within the United States.
The lawsuit states that collections of allegedly pirated books used within the coaching course of contained copyrighted sheet music and lyrics related to not less than 714 songs managed by the publishers. The plaintiffs argue that the replica and use of those supplies violated their unique rights below U.S. copyright legislation.
The case has been filed below the title Concord Music Group Inc. v. Anthropic PBC, No. 3:26-cv-00880, within the US District Court for the Northern District of California. Legal illustration for the publishers contains attorneys from Oppenheim + Zebrak, Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass, and Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman.
Music Publishers Escalate Copyright Case Against Anthropic As AI Training Practices Face Legal Scrutiny In The US
This newly filed lawsuit follows and expands upon a separate case initiated by the identical group of music publishers in opposition to Anthropic in 2023, which additionally centered on allegations that the corporate used their copyrighted materials to coach its Claude massive language mannequin to generate responses to consumer prompts. Anthropic has publicly rejected the claims made in each actions and maintains that its coaching practices adjust to relevant legislation.
The dispute emerges in opposition to the backdrop of a serious authorized improvement involving Anthropic final yr, when the corporate reached a $1.5 billion settlement in a separate copyright case introduced by a gaggle of e-book authors. In that matter, US District Judge William Alsup concluded that the doctrine of honest use protected Anthropic from infringement legal responsibility arising particularly from the usage of copyrighted books for synthetic intelligence coaching. At the identical time, the courtroom indicated that the corporate may nonetheless face separate publicity for the alleged unauthorized copying of the underlying books themselves, noting that such conduct may, in principle, give rise to damages reaching as high as $1 trillion.
The rising physique of litigation displays a broader authorized and regulatory confrontation between creators and synthetic intelligence builders. Across the expertise sector, main AI corporations are more and more being focused by copyright holders, together with writers, music publishers, and visible artists, who declare that their works have been used with out permission to coach generative fashions. In response, many expertise corporations have constantly argued that the ingestion of copyrighted materials for coaching functions falls throughout the scope of honest use below US copyright legislation, setting the stage for a collection of landmark courtroom choices which might be anticipated to form the way forward for AI improvement and mental property rights.
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