Cases › copyright or IP violation › LR-2026-0244
Elvis Presley rights holders sue Anthropic over 274 songs used in training and reproduced by Claude
Whose AI: Anthropic · Claudecopyright or IP violation
Severity major: A regulator was involved. The plaintiffs seek statutory damages of up to $150,000 per song, about $41.1million in total, a stated claim amount in the 100k-10M+ range against a provider over IP.
Earliest source we hold 2026-10-25
The owners of Elvis Presley's music sued Anthropic, alleging it trained its models on 274 Presley songs without permission and that Claude can generate unauthorised versions of existing songs, including after safeguards were introduced.
Risk grouping: Harm by design
| Who caused it | A person or organisation “The owners of Elvis Presley‘s music have launched legal action against AI company Anthropic, accusing it of using 274 of his songs to train its models without permission.” source |
|---|---|
| Intended or not | Intended “The lawsuit claims that Anthropic used copyrighted compositions and lyrics to train its AI models without obtaining permission or paying the relevant rights holders, and that the technology is capable of generating unauthorised versions of existing songs.” source |
| Before or after release | Before release “The lawsuit claims that Anthropic used copyrighted compositions and lyrics to train its AI models without obtaining permission or paying the relevant rights holders, and that the technology is capable of generating unauthorised versions of existing songs.” source |
| The AI's part | Caused it “The legal action also alleges that Claude has continued reproducing copyrighted material despite Anthropic introducing safeguards intended to prevent the chatbot from generating existing song lyrics.” source |
The story
1 · What it was doingAnthropic's Claude chatbot was trained on copyrighted compositions and lyrics, including 274 Presley songs, and could generate unauthorised versions of existing songs when asked to recreate them for a modern audience.
2 · What went wrongIt allegedly reproduced copyrighted lyrics and generated versions closely resembling existing songs, breaching the rights holders' copyrights and continuing despite safeguards meant to stop lyric reproduction.
3 · What it reached or didThe action covers 274 Presley songs, including well-known hits, whose rights are held by an Authentic Brands Group subsidiary and other rights holders.
4 · What was doneThe plaintiffs seek statutory damages of up to $150,000 per song, about $41.1million. Anthropic has not publicly responded and has previously argued fair use.
What the sources state
- Cause a safeguard that was in place did not hold
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Show every field, with its source and grade
The AI system
Model
Claude
C one secondary source states it
Developer
Anthropic
C one secondary source states it
Software around the model
Claude chatbot
C one secondary source states it
Safeguards in place
safeguards intended to prevent the chatbot from generating existing song lyrics
C one secondary source states it
Stage of use
in live use
D inferred by us from the described behaviour, reason shown
Whose system
company that built the AI
D inferred by us from the described behaviour, reason shown
Stage of the model
in training
C one secondary source states it
What it was for
AI chatbot
C one secondary source states it
State of its safeguards
safeguards intended to prevent the chatbot from generating existing song lyrics were introduced, but Claude allegedly continued reproducing copyrighted material
C one secondary source states it
What happened
Earliest source we hold
2026-10-25
A the date the source itself carries
Cause
a safeguard that was in place did not hold
D inferred by us from the described behaviour, reason shown
Cause in detail
The plaintiffs allege safeguards intended to stop Claude generating existing song lyrics were introduced but Claude continued reproducing copyrighted material.
D inferred by us from the described behaviour, reason shown
Who was responsible
the model provider
D inferred by us from the described behaviour, reason shown
What went wrong
copyright or IP violation
C one secondary source states it
AI agent
no AI agent acted
D inferred by us from the described behaviour, reason shown
Impact
Severity
major
D inferred by us from the described behaviour, reason shown
Kind of harm
intellectual property
C one secondary source states it
Who was affected
274 songs associated with Presley
C one secondary source states it
Why this severity
A regulator was involved. The plaintiffs seek statutory damages of up to $150,000 per song, about $41.1million in total, a stated claim amount in the 100k-10M+ range against a provider over IP.
D inferred by us from the described behaviour, reason shown
affected party
the owners of Elvis Presley's music
C one secondary source states it
Context
Industry
Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation
D inferred by us from the described behaviour, reason shown
Country
United States
D inferred by us from the described behaviour, reason shown
LR-2026-0244 · version 3 · published 2026-10-25 after automatic checks; not yet checked field by field by a person · changes to this case · JSON