Sony Music and Warner Chappell sue Anthropic over alleged copyright theft
This digest was compiled by AI from multiple sources — links to the originals are below.
Sony Music and Warner Chappell filed a lawsuit against Anthropic in the US District Court for the Northern District of California on Friday, alleging the AI company used tens of thousands of copyrighted songs to train its Claude models. The publishers seek up to $150,000 per infringed work, potentially totaling several billion dollars in damages. The suit also names Anthropic co-founders Dario Amodei and Benjamin Mann as individual defendants.
Key Facts
- The lawsuit was filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California on Friday, August 28, 2026.
- Plaintiffs seek up to $150,000 per infringed work and up to $25,000 for each instance of removed copyright management information.
- The complaint alleges Anthropic used 'tens of thousands' of copyrighted musical compositions to train its Claude AI models.
- Anthropic co-founders Dario Amodei and Benjamin Mann are named as individual defendants.
- In September 2025, Anthropic agreed to a $1.5 billion settlement with authors and publishers, the largest copyright settlement in US history.
The Lawsuit
Sony Music and Warner Chappell filed the complaint in the US District Court for the Northern District of California on Friday, August 28, 2026. The publishers allege Anthropic engaged in 'one of the largest and most blatant ongoing thefts of intellectual property in history.' The 48-page complaint names Anthropic, CEO Dario Amodei, and co-founder Benjamin Mann as defendants. Plaintiffs claim Anthropic pirated thousands of copyrighted musical works and seek hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages per infringed work.
Alleged Infringement
The suit alleges Anthropic unlawfully trained its models on 'tens of thousands' of music publishers' copyrighted compositions. The complaint states that Benjamin Mann used BitTorrent to download over five million pirated books, and employees downloaded at least two million more from Pirate Library Mirror. The publishers are asking for up to $150,000 per work, plus up to $25,000 for each instance when identifiable copyright data was stripped. Total damages could amount to several billion dollars if a court awards the maximum amount.
Legal Context
In September 2025, Anthropic agreed to a $1.5 billion settlement with authors and publishers, the largest copyright settlement in US history. Anthropic has also faced lawsuits from Universal Music Group, Concord, ABKCO, BMG, and Round Hill Music. BMG's lawsuit against Anthropic claims infringement against 493 compositions. Anthropic was not immediately available to comment on the suit.
2 sources
Sony Music and Warner Chappell sue Anthropic over alleged copyright theft
