Elvis Presley’s rights holders sue Anthropic, saying it trained AI on his music

Owners of rights to a substantial portion of Elvis Presley’s song catalog have filed a lawsuit against Anthropic, alleging that the artificial intelligence company utilized his copyrighted music without authorization to train its digital assistant, Claude. The legal action was submitted on Friday in federal court in San Francisco, where the San Francisco-based tech firm is headquartered. The plaintiffs, led by Authentic Brands Group alongside various trusts, companies, and individuals holding rights to Presley’s intellectual property, accuse Anthropic of infringing upon 274 distinct musical compositions. These works include major hits such as “All Shoked Up,” “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” “Don’t Be Cruel,” “A Little Less Conversation,” and “Return to Sender,” as well as lesser-known tracks like “(You’re the) Devil in Disguise.” The complaint asserts that Anthropic captured these songs without providing any license or payment. The rights holders argue that the AI giant incorporated the material into a permanent, general-purpose central library designed for indefinite retention. From this repository, subsets of data were allegedly selected and copied repeatedly to train successive generations of Claude models. The lawsuit characterizes this practice as integral to Anthropic’s operations, stating that the defendant built its entire business model on copyright infringement at a scale previously unseen. The plaintiffs describe their collection as containing some of the most groundbreaking, revolutionary, influential, and enduring musical compositions in human history. They contend that the unauthorized reuse is destroying the commercial value of these works within a few years, driven solely by profit motives. Attorney Richard Busch, representing the Presley rights holders, emphasized the group’s role as guardians of the artist’s legacy. He stated that the plaintiffs are highly protective of Elvis’s songs, which he described as among the most iconic of all time. The legal team seeks approximately $41.1 million in statutory copyright damages. This figure represents the maximum allowable penalty of $150,000 per work for willful infringement across the 274 identified pieces. In addition to monetary compensation, the plaintiffs are demanding reimbursement of court costs and attorney fees. They have also requested a permanent injunction to prevent further infringement and an order compelling Anthropic to destroy all unauthorized copies of the copyrighted works. The lawsuit highlights ongoing issues regarding user interactions with the AI system. The complaint alleges that even after Anthropic implemented purported guardrails following previous litigation, the latest iteration of Claude continues to produce infringing output. Specifically, the filing cites instances where users asked the chatbot to recreate specific songs for a modern audience. According to the documents, Claude generated responses that remained extremely close to the originals. The text quoted in the suit notes that these renders feature the same structure, reuse identical hooks with minor rewording, and include full sets of verses, choruses, and bridges. The filing argues that this approach edges past mere inspiration into direct reproduction of the copyrighted song, even when the specific words are altered. Anthropic has publicly rejected the allegations. A company spokesperson issued a statement on Sunday declaring that the firm disagrees with the claims and intends to defend the case fully. The dispute occurs amidst a broader wave of legal challenges against AI developers accused of utilizing copyrighted musical works without consent or compensation. The plaintiffs’ lawyers noted that at least six other suits related to musical compositions being improperly used for AI training are currently pending in the same federal court district. This case follows a significant precedent set last year when Anthropic agreed to a $1.5 billion settlement in a separate copyright infringement lawsuit. That prior case was brought by authors who claimed the company had illegally used pirated copies of their books to train its models. The settlement marked the largest in the history of American copyright cases. More recently, in January, major music publishers including Universal Music, Concord Music Group, and ABKCO Music expanded their existing lawsuit against Anthropic over alleged lyric infringement. Additionally, BMG Rights Management, Sony Music Publishing, and Warner Chappell Music filed similar complaints earlier this year. Independent entities such as Round Hill and Reservoir Media have also joined the legal offensive, suing both Anthropic and the AI music generation company Suno. The current filing underscores the tension between large-scale data acquisition strategies employed by AI firms and the rights of individual creators. While Anthropic maintains its defense strategy, the plaintiffs assert that the company was put on notice regarding improper access to copyrighted material yet persisted in the practice. The lawsuit charges that Anthropic removed identifying information from the works while retaining the resulting financial gains. As the legal proceedings move forward, the outcome could influence how AI developers handle licensed versus unlicensed creative content in future model training cycles. The specific focus on Presley’s catalog brings high-profile attention to the issue, given the global recognition of the artist’s musical contributions. The court will now determine whether the usage patterns described in the complaint constitute actionable infringement under current copyright laws.