AI company sued over 274 Elvis songs used to train Claude
Lawsuit filed in Northern California
Entities controlling Elvis Presley's song catalog filed a federal copyright lawsuit against Anthropic on October 23, 2026, in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose. The case, ABG EPE IP LLC v. Anthropic PBC, No. 5:26-cv-12473, names Authentic Brands Group–affiliated entities, Raleigh Music Publishing, multiple trusts, and individual rights-holders as plaintiffs (Reuters).
Core allegations: 274 songs, unauthorized training
The complaint alleges that Anthropic copied and used 274 Elvis Presley compositions without authorization to train Claude models. Reported examples include "All Shook Up," "Can't Help Falling in Love," "A Little Less Conversation," "Don't Be Cruel," and "Return to Sender" (BBC).
According to the filing, Anthropic allegedly scraped lyrics from authorized internet sources, removed or altered copyright-management information, stored the copied material in a central database, and used it to train Claude (The New York Times). The complaint states that the company "built its entire business model on infringing copyrights at an unfathomable scale," according to coverage of the suit (Yahoo News).
Damages sought: $41.1 million potential liability
The plaintiffs seek a permanent injunction barring further unauthorized use of the compositions, a jury trial, and statutory damages of up to $150,000 per infringed work—totaling approximately $41.1 million for the 274 allegedly copied songs (People). As a private civil action, no criminal sentence or regulatory penalty has been imposed; the damages are sought but not yet awarded.
This suit is one of several copyright challenges facing AI training companies. The case reflects ongoing disputes over whether training datasets—often assembled from internet-scraped text and music—constitute fair use or copyright infringement. The outcome may shape how AI companies source and disclose training data for large language models.
No settlement or resolution has been reported as of October 29, 2026. The case is in its early stages in federal court.