Elvis Presley Song Rights Holders Demand $41.1 Million from Anthropic
Elvis Presley song rights holders are demanding $41.1 million from Anthropic for 274 compositions used in training Claude. The lawsuit was filed in a California federal court.
The rights holders of Elvis Presley's songs are demanding $41.1 million from Anthropic, the American company behind the Claude neural network, for the unlawful use of 274 compositions in training its artificial intelligence. The lawsuit was filed on October 23 in a California federal court, The Guardian reports.
The plaintiffs are seeking $150,000 for each song.
Who Filed the Lawsuit
Among the plaintiffs is Authentic Brands Group and other rights holders of Presley's musical legacy. According to them, Anthropic used the lyrics of the singer's famous hits, including Can't Help Falling in Love and All Shook Up, without permission.
The plaintiffs also claim that the Claude neural network is capable of reproducing fragments of the original works with slight changes to the words. Taking additional claims into account, the total amount of demands could reach $48.6 million.
Anthropic rejects the accusations. The company intends to defend itself in court.
What the Dispute Changes for the Market
For practicing lawyers and AI developers, the lawsuit sets a new benchmark for financial risk. The precedent shows that rights holders are prepared to demand a fixed amount for each piece of protected content — $150,000 per song.
The dispute over Presley's legacy is not Anthropic's first copyright case. Earlier, the company agreed to pay $1.5 billion to settle a lawsuit brought by writers. The developer was accused of using pirated copies of around 500,000 books to train its AI.
AI vs. the Music Industry
Other developers of generative models are facing similar claims. In August 2026, as Kursiv reported, a Munich court sided with the German agency GEMA in a dispute with the music generator Suno. The company was accused of using works without the rights holders' permission.
Thus, the California lawsuit fits into a global trend. Courts in the US and Germany are consistently hearing the music industry's lawsuits against AI developers, and the amounts demanded are growing: from $48.6 million in California to $1.5 billion under the settlement agreement.
What's Next
Anthropic has already announced its readiness to defend itself in court. The outcome of the case will determine how expensive it will be for developers to train models on song lyrics without direct licenses.
For rights holders, the lawsuit is a signal of their willingness to go all the way. For AI companies, it is a reminder that each fragment.dataset can turn into a separate $150,000 claim.
Original: theguardian.com
More from Алексей Черных
159 articles
Related articles
- Omnicom: Creative Falls for Third Quarter, Media Grows 10%
- Pinduoduo and Anthropic paid Kazakhstan 8 billion tenge in taxes
- Yandex's Search Services and AI Advertising Revenue Grew 9%
- Prada answered AI slop with a pencil: 6 million views and mice in the style of Disney
- 51% of teens call brand slang flirting