Music publishers file amended lyrics lawsuit towards Anthropic – simply as AI agency’s separate $1.5B settlement with authors wins court docket approval

Harmony Music Group, Common Music Publishing Group and ABKCO Music have filed an amended criticism towards Anthropic over the alleged copying of copyrighted tune lyrics by its Claude chatbot.

The publishers filed the Second Amended Criticism on Wednesday (July 22) within the US District Courtroom for the Northern District of California — an expanded model of the identical amended criticism they first put ahead in Might.

It updates the case they first introduced in October 2023, which covers round 500 songs and is the primary of two separate copyright lawsuits the group has filed towards Anthropic.

Their second, separate swimsuit, filed in January 2026, covers greater than 20,000 songs and seeks over $3 billion over Anthropic‘s alleged torrenting of lyrics from pirate “shadow” libraries.

The amended criticism additionally lands as Anthropic works by way of a separate $1.5 billion settlement it agreed in September 2025 with a gaggle of authors over its use of pirated books to coach Claude.

The 71-page pleading attracts closely on Anthropic‘s personal inner data, obtained by way of discovery, to help the infringement claims.

It seeks to carry Anthropic accountable for what the criticism calls the “systematic and widespread infringement of their copyrighted tune lyrics” by way of the coaching and operation of its Claude AI fashions.

The submitting states that Anthropic co-founder and chief compute officer Tom Brown as soon as queried “@Claude what are the lyrics to desolation row by Dylan?” in an inner report.

The question references the Bob Dylan composition Desolation Row, one of many works within the swimsuit.

The criticism additional alleges that Anthropic and the short-term staff it employed to “finetune” its fashions by way of reinforcement studying prompted Claude with requests for the publishers’ lyrics throughout growth.

The publishers argue this reveals Anthropic “supposed, anticipated, and designed its AI fashions to reply to prompts for Publishers’ and others’ lyrics and to repeat the lyrics in output – as a function, not a bug.”

The criticism additionally alleges that Anthropic used extraction instruments to strip copyright notices and different figuring out particulars from lyrics throughout coaching, dismissing that info as “ineffective junk” in inner conversations.

It claims co-founders Ben Mann and Jared Kaplan debated which extraction instruments to make use of in June 2021, in the end selecting one which eliminated copyright notices solely.

The submitting additional alleges that the time period “lyric” appeared in additional than 170,000 Claude immediate and output data throughout a nine-day window in September 2023, the month earlier than the swimsuit was filed.

The publishers allege that Claude reproduces their lyrics each as coaching enter and in its output to customers, and that it does so even when customers don’t ask for lyrics.

The criticism says that when investigators requested Claude for the phrases to songs together with Roar, I Will Survive, American Pie and What a Great World, the mannequin returned an identical or near-identical copies.

It provides that Claude additionally produced lyrics in response to prompts that named no tune in any respect.

Requested to “write a tune concerning the loss of life of Buddy Holly,” for instance, the mannequin returned the phrases to American Pie.

“ANTHROPIC’S COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS NOT INNOVATION; IN LAYMAN’S TERMS, IT’S THEFT.”

CONCORD, UMPG AND ABKCO’S AMENDED COMPLAINT

The publishers say they acknowledge the potential of moral AI, however argue that Anthropic‘s conduct crosses a line.

“Against this, Anthropic‘s copyright infringement is just not innovation,” the criticism reads. “In layman’s phrases, it’s theft.”

The publishers are searching for statutory damages of as much as $150,000 per work.

In January 2025, the court docket authorised a stipulation requiring Anthropic to take care of “guardrails” meant to cease Claude from reproducing copyrighted lyrics in its outputs.

In March 2025, Choose Eumi Ok. Lee denied the publishers’ request for a preliminary injunction that might have barred Anthropic from coaching on their lyrics, discovering any hurt might be compensated with cash damages.

The identical set of orders granted the publishers discovery, requiring Anthropic at hand over a pattern of Claude immediate and output data – the fabric now cited all through the amended criticism.

The publishers have since narrowed the case towards Anthropic to direct infringement and the alleged removing of copyright administration info, dropping earlier contributory and vicarious infringement claims.

They moved for partial abstract judgment in March 2026, asking the court docket to reject Anthropic‘s truthful use protection forward of trial.

Anthropic is contesting the case and has argued that coaching Claude on copyrighted materials quantities to truthful use.

Anthropic had not publicly responded to the amended criticism on the time of writing.

Anthropic‘s valuation has risen for the reason that case started.

The corporate confidentially filed for an preliminary public providing in June 2026, days after a $65 billion funding spherical valued it at $965 billion.

That valuation lifted Anthropic above rival OpenAI for the primary time.

Anthropic mentioned its run-rate income crossed $47 billion in Might.

The amended criticism is one among a number of actions the music trade has introduced towards Anthropic.

BMG filed a 3rd swimsuit in March 2026, citing 493 compositions and alleging the AI agency had constructed its enterprise on unlicensed works.

Elsewhere in AI litigation, Sony Music filed a brand new lawsuit towards AI music platform Udio on Monday (July 20).

Udio’s competitor Suno faces increasing infringement claims from Common and Sony.Music Enterprise Worldwide