Sony Music and Warner Bros. Sue Anthropic for Alleged Intellectual Property Theft

Sony Music Publishing, Warner Chappell, and various music publishers have initiated legal action against Anthropic and its co-founders Dario Amodei and Benjamin Mann. The lawsuit alleges a systematic effort by the AI company to illegally download, scrape, and torrent copyrighted materials.

Filed on Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, this legal complaint represents a significant escalation in the ongoing debate surrounding intellectual property rights within the AI sector. The publishers claim that Anthropic engaged in “blatant theft” by utilizing thousands of copyrighted works to develop its AI model, Claude.

In response, an Anthropic spokesperson stated, “We disagree with the publishers’ claims and we intend to defend ourselves robustly in court,” as reported in an email to TechCrunch.

This lawsuit is not Anthropic’s first encounter with intellectual property issues. Notably, some attorneys involved in this case are also representing Concord Music Group and Universal Music Group in a separate case initiated in January. Additionally, the firm has been involved in the Bartz v. Anthropic case, where authors accused the company of misusing copyrighted materials for training purposes. In that earlier case, a judge ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, resulting in a landmark $1.5 billion settlement against Anthropic, asserting that while the use of copyrighted works was permissible, obtaining them through piracy was unlawful.

The current lawsuit distinguishes itself with broader claims, alleging “flagrant piracy” through the unauthorized torrenting of millions of books. This includes works featuring lyrics and sheet music, further complicating the legal landscape for AI development.

Article updated to include Anthropic’s statement.