Sony Music Publishing and Warner Chappell have sued Anthropic, alleging the AI company acquired and copied copyrighted musical works without permission in connection with its Claude models. The Sony Warner sue Anthropic case also names Anthropic co-founders Dario Amodei and Benjamin Mann as defendants, according to reporting by TechCrunch and The Verge.
The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on August 28, reports said. Sony Music Publishing, Warner Chappell and other publishers allege that the defendants obtained copyrighted material through torrenting, scraping and downloading, then copied it for Claude model training and in model outputs.
Those are allegations in a newly filed complaint, not findings by a court. Anthropic told TechCrunch it disagrees with the publishers' claims and plans to defend itself in court.
What do Sony and Warner allege Anthropic did?
The publishers say the alleged conduct goes beyond Claude producing song lyrics in response to prompts. According to TechCrunch, the suit alleges that Anthropic obtained millions of books through torrenting, including books containing lyrics and sheet music.
The Verge reported that the complaint also alleges Anthropic scraped lyrics from MusixMatch and LyricFind, services that license music-publishing content. It identifies works including “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” “Livin’ On a Prayer,” “September,” “Hallelujah” and “Paper Rings” as appearing in Anthropic training data.
The complaint names Amodei and Mann individually and alleges that Anthropic and its founders participated in unauthorized acquisition and copying. The lawsuit's reported claims include direct infringement related to torrenting, contributory infringement claims against the two founders, direct infringement by Anthropic, and removal or alteration of copyright-management information, according to legal-industry reporting.
What are the publishers seeking?
The publishers seek damages tied to “tens of thousands” of works, The Verge reported. Their request includes up to $150,000 per work and up to $25,000 for each alleged removal or alteration of identifiable copyright information. Any damages would depend on what the court finds and awards.
This is a separate case from earlier Anthropic litigation
Anthropic already faces other copyright disputes involving music publishers, but this action is distinct from the litigation brought by Universal Music Publishing Group, Concord Music Group and ABKCO. CourtListener records show that earlier case began in October 2023; reporting on a separate January 2026 action described additional allegations involving more than 20,000 songs.
Anthropic also resolved a separate authors' case concerning pirated books for $1.5 billion, according to TechCrunch. That settlement is background, not a decision on Sony Music Publishing and Warner Chappell's new claims.
Like the earlier case, the new complaint concerns publishers’ allegations that Anthropic acquired and used copyrighted works without authorization. The new lawsuit has been filed in federal court, where Anthropic says it will defend itself.
This story draws on original reporting from The Verge.
