Anthropic · Claude · California · Dario Amodei · The Guardian Technology
Anthropic sued over alleged theft of ‘tens of thousands’ of songs
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All AI wants for Christmas is a vast back catalogue of songs without paying for it, according to a multibillion-dollar lawsuit against the startup behind the Claude chatbot.
Key facts
- The music publishers are seeking damages that could run into billions of dollars, based on a claim of up to $150,000 per infringed piece of work and $25,000 for each removal or alteration
- The figures are from a recent copyright case against Anthropic brought by US authors which the company settled for $1.5bn
- It claims that Mann and Anthropic downloaded at least 7m copies of books from pirate websites, including the lyrics and sheet music to songs such as Bon Jovi’s Livin’ on a Prayer and Leonard Cohen’s
- The lawsuit, filed on 28 August, was first reported by trade publication Music Business Worldwide
Summary
Sony Music Publishing and Warner Chappell, music publishers who manage the copyright of songs on behalf of songwriters and composers, are seeking damages for alleged misuse of “tens of thousands” of copyrighted works by Anthropic. The compositions include Mariah Carey’s All the reporter Want for Christmas is You, Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, originally performed by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, and Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger. The plaintiffs claim they are victims of “one of the largest and most blatant ongoing thefts of intellectual property in history”. The lawsuit, filed in a California court, targets Anthropic and its chief executive, Dario Amodei, as well as co-founder Benjamin Mann.