Several major music publishers, including Sony Music and Warner Chappell, filed a lawsuit against artificial intelligence (AI) company Anthropic on Friday, accusing the company of "one of the largest and most blatant ongoing thefts of intellectual property in history."
According to a Business Insider report, the lawsuit was filed in a Northern California district court and names co-founders Dario Amodei and Benjamin Mann.
The companies said in the complaint, "Defendants Anthropic and its founders Dario Amodei and Benjamin Mann have conducted a brazen campaign of illegally torrenting, scraping, and downloading copyrighted works on a massive scale in order to develop, operate, and reap enormous profits from Anthropic's 'Claude' series of artificial intelligence ('AI') models."
Sony and Warner Chappell said the AI company collected "thousands upon thousands" of copyrighted songs, including "Eye of the Tiger," the 1980s anthem "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You," and Taylor Swift's "Paper Rings."
In the lawsuit, the companies alleged that Anthropic pirated their works using a range of methods, including two digital archives, Library Genesis and Pirate Library Mirror.
It further said, "Among the many millions of books that Defendants torrented from these illegal pirate websites were books containing the lyrics and sheet music to hundreds or more of Music Publishers' copyrighted musical compositions, identified in Exhibit A. Those works include 'Livin' On a Prayer,' 'September,' 'Great Balls of Fire,' 'Ramblin' Man,' and 'Hallelujah.'"
Both Sony and Warner Chappell have sought a jury trial and are reportedly seeking statutory damages from the AI firm, including up to $150,000 for each composition it used to train the chatbot. The companies also noted in their complaint, "Even the most revolutionary of technologies must develop within the bounds of the law, and Anthropic's Claude models are no different."
According to Axios, the lawsuit is likely to mark the beginning of a prolonged battle over the use of music by artificial intelligence companies and how intellectual property rights should be safeguarded as the technology evolves.
Since large language models (LLMs) such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude became part of people's work, the AI industry has faced a series of copyright lawsuits.
This is not the first time the artificial intelligence company has been accused of pirating content to train its chatbot. In June 2025, a judge ruled that the AI company had downloaded more than seven million pirated books, following which the firm agreed to pay $1.5 billion to authors for books used to train LLMs.
Under the proposed settlement in the piracy case, authors would receive roughly $3,000 for every pirated book used to train Claude.
Separately, Sam Altman-led OpenAI has also faced several copyright infringement lawsuits, including cases brought by The New York Times and Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Swati Gandhi is a digital journalist with over four years of experience, specialising in international and geopolitical issues. Her work focuses on foreign policy, global power shifts, and the political and economic forces shaping international relations, with a particular emphasis on how global developments affect India. She approaches journalism with a strong belief in context-driven reporting, aiming to break down complex global events into clear, accessible narratives for a wide readership.<br><br>
Previously, Swati has worked at Business Standard, where she covered a range of beats including national affairs, politics, and business. This diverse newsroom experience helped her build a strong grounding in reporting, while also strengthening her ability to work across both breaking news and in-depth explanatory stories. Covering multiple beats early in her career has helped her be informed about her current work, allowing her to connect domestic developments with wider international trends.<br><br>
At Live Mint, she focuses on international and geopolitical issues through a business and economic lens, examining how global political developments, foreign policy decisions, and power shifts impact markets, industries, and India’s strategic and economic interests.<br><br>
She holds a Bachelor’s degree in English (Honours) from the University of Delhi and a Master’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University. Her academic training has shaped her emphasis on precision, analytical rigour, and clarity in writing. Her interests include global political economy and the intersection of geopolitics with business.<br><br>
Outside work, Swati focuses on exploring her passion and love for food. From fancy cafes to street spots, Swati explores food like a true foodie.
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