Sony Music, Warner Chappell Sue Anthropic Over Copyright Theft By Claude AI

Sony Music Publishing and Warner Chappell Music have sued Anthropic, alleging that the artificial intelligence (AI) company unlawfully copied thousands of copyrighted musical compositions to train and operate its Claude AI models.

The publishers have described the alleged conduct as "one of the largest and most blatant ongoing thefts of intellectual property in history," according to the copy of the lawsuit accessed by Outlook Business.

The lawsuit was filed on August 28 in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. Anthropic co-founders and executives Dario Amodei and Benjamin Mann have also been named as individual defendants.

Publishers Seek Billions In AI Copyright

The complaint identifies “tens of thousands” of allegedly infringed compositions. Sony Music Publishing and Warner Chappell are seeking statutory damages of up to $150,000 for each work allegedly infringed wilfully, along with up to $25,000 for every alleged removal of copyright management information.

The publishers are also seeking a jury trial, destruction of infringing copies and an account of the material used to train Claude.

The complaint alleges direct and contributory infringement linked to torrenting, direct infringement by Anthropic, and the removal or alteration of copyright management information.

The filing names works including “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” “All I Want for Christmas is You,” “Eye of the Tiger,” “Livin’ On a Prayer,” “September,” “Hallelujah,” “Uptown Funk” and Taylor Swift’s “Paper Rings” as allegedly infringed.

"In blatant violation of copyright law, Defendants have unlawfully acquired troves of Music Publishers’ musical compositions, and then systematically copied those works multiple times, including as the inputs to train Anthropic’s Claude AI models and in the outputs those models generate," the music publishers said in the lawsuit.

Anthropic Faces Multiple Copyright Suits

The latest case follows several copyright lawsuits against Anthropic. Universal Music Publishing Group, Concord Music Group and ABKCO sued the company in 2023, while a second case filed in January 2026 covers more than 20,000 works and seeks over $3 billion. BMG and Round Hill Music have since filed separate cases.

The Sony-Warner complaint also cites Anthropic’s $1.5 billion settlement with book authors in 2025 and alleges that the company continued using copyrighted material.

“But Anthropic clearly considers that to be just the cost of doing business given that its entire business model continues to be built on copyright theft,” the complaint said.

The publishers said AI development can benefit from authorised licensing but argued that such development must respect copyright holders and operate within legal boundaries.