Music Giants Accuse Anthropic of Massive Copyright Theft

The publishers describe the company’s data acquisition methods as blatant piracy, specifically highlighting the illegal torrenting and downloading of copyrighted lyrics and sheet music. This litigation marks an escalation in the legal pressure facing co-founders Dario Amodei and Benjamin Mann, who have already contended with similar challenges from authors and major record labels like Universal Music Group.

This case builds upon the legal precedent set by Bartz v. Anthropic, where the court distinguished between the legal use of AI training data and the unlawful acquisition of that content through piracy. While a judge previously ordered significant financial penalties in that matter, the plaintiffs now argue that Anthropic’s reliance on pirated materials remains a core component of its infrastructure, necessitating a broader judicial intervention to protect intellectual property rights.