Elvis Presley's music catalog is at the center of a new $41 million copyright case against Anthropic. The people who control his songs claim the AI firm used 274 tracks to train its models without consent. And they want a jury to hear the dispute.
Among the plaintiffs are Authentic Brands Group, Raleigh Music Publishing, several trusts, and an individual rights holder. Their case landed in a federal court in Northern California, with a demand for $150,000 in compensation for each track.
The song list has some big Elvis hits, such as All Shook Up, Can't Help Falling in Love, and Return to Sender. The plaintiffs claim Anthropic broke copyright rules and bypassed safeguards meant to keep the music secure.
Another part of the complaint deals with rights data. The group alleges that details used to track copyright were changed or stripped from the material. They also accuse the firm of building its AI business through widespread use of protected work.
Anthropic, which makes the Claude chatbot, rejects the claims. Its team says it plans to fight the lawsuit rather than accept the charges.
Meanwhile, attorney Richard Busch has spoken for the Elvis rights holders. He says his clients take the care of Presley's songs quite seriously and see legal action as a way to guard their rights.
And this is not the only music dispute facing Anthropic. Reservoir has filed a separate case over tracks linked to Joni Mitchell, Madonna, Kings of Leon, and Evanescence. Big Yellow Taxi and Papa Don't Preach are among the songs named. Anthropic disputes those claims as well.
Universal Music Group has a much larger $3 billion claim against the AI firm. UMG alleges that unlicensed collections of music helped build Claude, while Anthropic has asked the court to treat its conduct as fair use.
The legal question across these cases is whether AI training with protected songs breaks copyright law or qualifies for an exception. For the Elvis plaintiffs, the focus is on payment and control over how their catalog gets used.
Among the plaintiffs are Authentic Brands Group, Raleigh Music Publishing, several trusts, and an individual rights holder. Their case landed in a federal court in Northern California, with a demand for $150,000 in compensation for each track.
The song list has some big Elvis hits, such as All Shook Up, Can't Help Falling in Love, and Return to Sender. The plaintiffs claim Anthropic broke copyright rules and bypassed safeguards meant to keep the music secure.
Another part of the complaint deals with rights data. The group alleges that details used to track copyright were changed or stripped from the material. They also accuse the firm of building its AI business through widespread use of protected work.
Anthropic, which makes the Claude chatbot, rejects the claims. Its team says it plans to fight the lawsuit rather than accept the charges.
Meanwhile, attorney Richard Busch has spoken for the Elvis rights holders. He says his clients take the care of Presley's songs quite seriously and see legal action as a way to guard their rights.
And this is not the only music dispute facing Anthropic. Reservoir has filed a separate case over tracks linked to Joni Mitchell, Madonna, Kings of Leon, and Evanescence. Big Yellow Taxi and Papa Don't Preach are among the songs named. Anthropic disputes those claims as well.
Universal Music Group has a much larger $3 billion claim against the AI firm. UMG alleges that unlicensed collections of music helped build Claude, while Anthropic has asked the court to treat its conduct as fair use.
The legal question across these cases is whether AI training with protected songs breaks copyright law or qualifies for an exception. For the Elvis plaintiffs, the focus is on payment and control over how their catalog gets used.
