The rights holders to 274 Elvis Presley songs, including classics like 'All Shook Up', 'Can’t Help Falling in Love', and 'Don’t Be Cruel', have filed a federal lawsuit against AI company Anthropic, alleging the company used the songs without permission to train its Claude language model.
The lawsuit, filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, accuses Anthropic of copyright infringement and seeks $50 million in damages, along with reimbursement of court costs and attorney fees. The plaintiffs, which include Authentic Brands Group and other entities controlling Presley’s intellectual property, claim Anthropic’s training process relied on unauthorized access to copyrighted material.
Anthropic disputes the allegations. A company spokesperson stated Sunday that Anthropic disagrees with the claims and intends to defend the case fully.
Key Allegations and Legal Context
The lawsuit asserts that Anthropic’s training of Claude involved the mass scraping of copyrighted content, including Presley’s songs, without compensation or licensing agreements. The plaintiffs argue that this practice represents a systemic infringement of intellectual property rights, stating in court filings that Anthropic has built its business model on copyright infringement at an unprecedented scale.
The complaint highlights that at least six similar lawsuits are currently pending in the same federal court, all involving allegations that AI companies improperly used copyrighted musical compositions to train their models. The Presley plaintiffs’ legal team, led by attorney Richard Busch, emphasizes the iconic and historically significant nature of the songs in question, describing them as groundbreaking, revolutionary, and enduring compositions.
Anthropic’s Stance and Prior Legal Challenges
Anthropic has faced multiple copyright infringement lawsuits in recent years. In 2023, the company reached a $1.5 billion settlement with authors who alleged that Anthropic used pirated copies of their books to train its AI models. This settlement was described as the largest of its kind in U.S. history at the time.
The Presley lawsuit alleges that Anthropic’s infringement has occurred throughout the entire development of its Claude models and continues as users generate outputs that reproduce or adapt Presley’s lyrics. The plaintiffs contend that the unauthorized use of their catalog has caused irreparable harm to the value of their intellectual property.
Broader Implications for AI and Copyright Law
The case underscores ongoing debates about the ethical and legal boundaries of AI training practices. Critics argue that AI companies frequently rely on large-scale, uncompensated use of copyrighted works to develop their models, raising questions about fair compensation for creators. Proponents of AI development, however, contend that such training is necessary for innovation and falls under fair use provisions.
Legal experts note that this lawsuit, along with others in the pipeline, could set important precedents for how courts interpret copyright law in the context of AI training. The outcome may influence future AI development practices and the financial obligations of companies that rely on vast datasets for model training.