Elvis Presley estate sues Anthropic over training on 274 songs
The suit seeks $41 million and joins a wider set of music copyright claims against the AI company.
The estate and rights holders of Elvis Presley have filed suit against Anthropic, alleging the AI company trained its models on 274 Presley songs without permission and seeking $41 million. The complaint, filed October 23rd, says Anthropic bypassed DRM protections and stripped or changed copyright management information on 247 of the songs. Plaintiffs include Authentic Brands Group, Raleigh Music Publishing, several trusts and one individual, and they cite Presley's sales of more than a billion records to underline the catalog's value. The case adds to a growing set of copyright actions against Anthropic from music publishers and labels, several of which claim damages in the billions. Anthropic has argued that training on copyrighted material falls under fair use, and it says it disagrees with these claims and will defend itself.
Why it matters
The case tests whether training AI models on copyrighted recordings can be defended as fair use, a question the courts have not settled. It also puts pressure on AI developers over how they handle copyright management data and DRM protections. Anthropic says it disagrees with the claims and will defend itself, so the outcome is still open.
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