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Music publishers controlling rights to 274 songs recorded by Elvis Presley have filed a $48.6 million lawsuit against artificial intelligence company Anthropic, accusing it of using copyrighted material to train its Claude AI models without authorization.
The lawsuit, filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges that Anthropic copied the songs without obtaining licenses or paying royalties, according to The Guardian.
The legal action was brought by a subsidiary of Authentic Brands Group, which acquired Presley's intellectual property and trademark rights in 2013, alongside several music publishers and rights holders.
The disputed catalog includes some of Presley's best-known recordings, such as "Can't Help Falling in Love," "All Shook Up," "Don't Be Cruel," "A Little Less Conversation," and "Return to Sender."
The plaintiffs include Raleigh Music Publishing, Abilene Music, and trusts associated with songwriter Luigi Creatore and the Aberbach family, whose publishing business previously controlled rights to songs recorded by Presley.
According to the lawsuit, Anthropic not only used the copyrighted material to train Claude but also kept copies in an internal repository intended for future AI model development.
The rights holders are seeking $150,000 for each of the 274 allegedly infringed songs, totaling $41.1 million, with additional damages bringing the overall claim to $48.6 million.
Lead attorney Richard Busch accused Anthropic of building its business on copyright infringement, emphasizing that the plaintiffs were "deeply protective" of the songs.
Anthropic, however, rejected the accusations and said it would contest the lawsuit.
"We disagree with the claims and intend to defend this case fully," the company told NBC News.
The lawsuit adds to a growing number of legal disputes between music rights holders and AI developers over the use of copyrighted works in training artificial intelligence systems.
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