The Scope of the Lawsuit and Alleged Infringement
The legal action targets the core mechanics of how large language models ingest data. According to the court filings, Anthropic allegedly downloaded hundreds of copyrighted song lyrics and musical scores via torrent networks. These files included works by prominent artists such as The Beatles, Taylor Swift, and Michael Jackson, alongside compositions from numerous other writers represented by the two major music publishers.
Publishers argue that this data ingestion goes far beyond passive reading. They claim the unauthorized material was used to enhance Claude’s generative music capabilities, allowing the chatbot to produce new lyrics that directly compete with original copyrighted works. Furthermore, the lawsuit states that Claude can reproduce verbatim protected lyrics upon direct user request.
Mounting Legal Pressures and Prior Settlements
This federal action arrives amid a broader wave of litigation from rights holders targeting AI developers over training datasets. Universal Music Group previously sued Anthropic in 2023, reiterating claims in early 2025 regarding unauthorized lyric usage, in a case that remains ongoing.
Anthropic previously reached a major legal milestone in 2023 when Chief Executive Officer Dario Amodei’s company agreed to pay u$s1.500 millones to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by a group of authors. That settlement marked one of the earliest high-profile resolutions in the generative AI sector.
However, Sony and Warner argue that the previous payouts are entirely insufficient given the scale of ongoing infringements and Anthropic’s staggering market valuation of u$s2 billones, as reported in court documents. As the complaint notes, Anthropic considera claramente que esto es simplemente el coste de hacer negocios, dado que todo su modelo de negocio sigue basándose en el robo de derechos de autor
(Anthropic clearly considers this to be simply the cost of doing business, given that its entire business model continues to be based on copyright theft).
Anthropic Defends Its Training Methods
Anthropic pushed back against the new legal challenge. A company spokesperson dismissed the filing as a reciclaje de acusaciones
(recycling of allegations) already tied up in pending litigation.
The company maintains that using protected material for AI training falls under legitimate practices supported by existing legal precedents. Anthropic intends to defend its stance in court as the legal battle over transformer model training datasets intensifies.
Sony and Warner are seeking up to u$s150.000 in statutory damages for each infringed copyright, alongside a permanent injunction to prevent Anthropic from continuing to use their musical compositions.
