Sony and Warner Sue Anthropic Over AI Copyright Infringement
Music publishers accuse Anthropic of massive intellectual property theft.
1Lawsuit Filed Against Anthropic
Sony Music Publishing and Warner Chappell Music sued Anthropic on August 28, 2026, alleging copyright infringement. The lawsuit claims Anthropic used tens of thousands of copyrighted songs to train its Claude AI models. Filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, the complaint names CEO Dario Amodei and co-founder Benjamin Mann as defendants alongside the company.
2Allegations of Massive IP Theft
The publishers describe the case as 'one of the largest and most blatant ongoing thefts of intellectual property in history.' Songs cited include 'Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,' 'All I Want for Christmas is You,' and Taylor Swift’s 'Paper Rings.' The plaintiffs demand a jury trial and seek significant damages.
3Four Key Claims in the Complaint
The lawsuit includes four claims: direct copyright infringement through torrenting, contributory infringement by Amodei and Mann, direct infringement via scraping and model training, and removal of copyright management information. Anthropic is accused of downloading millions of pirated books and songbooks using BitTorrent.
4BitTorrent and Pirated Content
The complaint alleges Benjamin Mann used BitTorrent to download five million pirated books from LibGen in June 2021. Anthropic employees torrented two million more from Pirate Library Mirror in July 2022. These downloads allegedly included hundreds of songbooks and sheet-music collections, authorized by Amodei.
5Scraping and Destructive Scanning
Beyond torrenting, Anthropic is accused of scraping lyrics from licensed websites like MusixMatch and LyricFind. The company allegedly digitized millions of second-hand physical books through 'destructive scanning' before destroying them. Third-party datasets like Common Crawl and The Pile were also used.
6Potential Damages in the Billions
Sony and Warner seek $150,000 in damages per work and $25,000 per copyright violation. With thousands of titles allegedly stolen, compensation could reach billions. This follows Anthropic’s $1.5 billion settlement with book publishers earlier in 2026 over similar claims.
7Previous IP Lawsuits Against Anthropic
Anthropic has faced intellectual property lawsuits before. Universal Music Group, Concord Music Group, and ABKCO Music filed suits in 2023 and 2024, seeking over $3 billion in damages. The current lawsuit references these cases, highlighting Anthropic’s history of IP disputes.
8Implications for AI and Copyright Law
This case could set a precedent for AI companies using copyrighted material to train models. The outcome may influence future regulations and lawsuits in the rapidly evolving AI industry. Publishers are increasingly vigilant about protecting their intellectual property from unauthorized use.
Original article: Unite.AI — Sony and Warner Sue Anthropic Over AI Copyright Infringement