The owners of Elvis Presley's music have sued San Francisco-based AI company Anthropic, alleging it used 274 of his songs without permission to train its Claude models. The 28-page lawsuit was filed Friday, Oct. 23, in federal court for the Northern District of California, Variety reported.
Why it matters: The suit lands as Anthropic files to go public, and it adds to a growing list of copyright cases against AI companies over music.
The claims
The plaintiffs include Authentic Brands Group, which controls Presley's intellectual property, and Raleigh Music Publishing, among others. They say the infringement covers hits such as "All Shook Up," "Can't Help Falling in Love," "Don't Be Cruel" and "Return to Sender," NBC News reported.
The complaint alleges that infringement happened throughout Claude's development and continues when users generate lyrics or unauthorized versions of the songs. The plaintiffs are seeking $48.6 million and an order to stop the alleged infringement.
Anthropic's response
"We disagree with the claims and intend to defend this case fully," an Anthropic spokesperson said.
A familiar lawyer
Lead attorney Richard Busch sued Anthropic in August on behalf of independent publisher Round Hill Music, seeking $1 billion, Variety reported. Last year Anthropic agreed to a $1.5 billion settlement with authors over pirated books, NBC News noted.