Full Breakdown
Sony Music Publishing and Warner Chappell Sue Anthropic Over Alleged Mass Copyright Infringement
9/1/2026, 5:57:20 AM
Alleged Unauthorized Use of Song Lyrics in Claude Training
On August 28, 2026, Sony Music Publishing and Warner Chappell Music filed a 48-page complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. “Eye of the Tiger,” “Livin’ on a Prayer,” “September,” “Hallelujah,” “Uptown Funk,” and Taylor Swift’s “Paper Rings” were listed among the lyrics allegedly used to train Anthropic’s Claude models. The complaint says Anthropic “torrent-ed, scraped and downloaded” lyrics and sheet music from pirate sites and then reproduced them in user-prompted outputs.
Background and Prior Litigation
The claim follows a wave of AI-related copyright actions. In September 2025 Anthropic settled the class-action case Bartz v. Anthropic for $1.5 billion after a judge rejected its fair-use defense for pirated books. Earlier suits by Universal Music Group, Concord Music Group, BMG and Round Hill Music targeted similar alleged misuse of song lyrics for AI training.
Scope of the Claim
- Works involved: The complaint cites “tens of thousands” of compositions, with some reports noting at least 20,000 works.
- Statutory damages sought: Up to $150,000 per willfully infringed work and up to $25,000 for each instance of removing or altering copyright-management information.
- Potential exposure: Multiplying per-work damages by the alleged number of songs could push liability into the multi-billion-dollar range.
- Additional relief: The publishers request a jury trial, an order destroying all infringing copies, and a court-supervised accounting of Anthropic’s training data and methods.
Official Statements & Responses
- Anthropic: A spokesperson said the publishers’ allegations are disputed and that Anthropic will “defend ourselves robustly in court,” asserting that its training practices constitute fair use as recognized in the Bartz decision.
Conflicting Reports & Gaps
Sources differ on the exact scale of the alleged infringement. The Guardian and Music Business Worldwide describe “tens of thousands” of works, while other outlets reference at least 20,000 songs. The complaint lists numerous specific titles, but the total number of compositions remains unverified pending court proceedings. The effectiveness of Anthropic’s internal “guardrails” against verbatim lyric reproduction is also contested.
Verbatim Quotes
- “We disagree with the publishers’ claims and we intend to defend ourselves robustly in court.” — Anthropic spokesperson
What’s Next
The publishers have asked the court to order a jury trial, destroy all infringing copies, and compel Anthropic to provide a detailed accounting of the data used to train Claude. Anthropic has indicated it will contest the claims vigorously, setting the stage for a potentially precedent-shaping litigation over AI training data and copyright law.
