Sony Music Publishing and Warner Music sued Anthropic in the US Northern District Court in California on August 28-29, 2026, alleging the AI company illegally pirated hundreds of copyrighted song lyrics and sheet music to train its Claude models [1, 2, 3]. The lawsuit accuses Anthropic of downloading works by The Beatles, Taylor Swift, Michael Jackson, Bon Jovi, Earth, Wind & Fire, Leonard Cohen, and others through torrent and pirate websites, and using them without permission [4, 1, 2, 3].
The complaint states that Anthropic’s Claude AI can reproduce copyrighted lyrics verbatim when prompted, demonstrating unauthorized use of protected material [4, 1, 2, 3]. Sony and Warner seek damages up to $150,000 per infringed copyrighted work and $25,000 for each act of removing copyright management information [1, 3].
Sony and Warner allege Anthropic views copyright settlements as a business cost, citing the company’s huge valuation. Their complaint states, "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. And $1.5bn is obviously not a large enough settlement to deter infringing conduct by a company that has parlayed such mass infringement into a staggering 2-trillion-dollar valuation" [4]. However, independent reports place Anthropic's valuation at $965 billion as of May 2026 [1, 2].
Anthropic denies the allegations and stated it will defend itself vigorously. A company spokesperson said, "This is the third lawsuit from the same lawyers, recycling allegations from cases already before the courts. We will defend ourselves robustly and AI training makes fair use of copyrighted material" [4]. In a Japanese publication interview, Anthropic reaffirmed its intent to strongly refute claims in court [1].
This lawsuit follows earlier legal challenges against Anthropic. In September 2025, Anthropic settled a $1.5 billion class-action lawsuit with authors and publishers over copyright infringement [4, 1, 2, 3]. The company also faces ongoing suits from Universal Music Group and other publishers filed in 2023 and 2026, alleging unauthorized use of copyrighted music and lyrics in AI training [4, 3]. Earlier, Sony, Warner, and Universal also sued AI music generation platforms Udio and Suno in 2024 for similar copyright violations [1, 2].
The lawsuit names Anthropic and its co-founders Dario Amodei and Benjamin Mann as defendants [1, 2, 3]. Proceedings will now begin in the California federal court as Sony and Warner seek legal remedy for what they call widespread copyright infringement.
