Music Publishers Sue Anthropic Over "Massive" Copyright Theft

Major music publishers, including Sony Music Publishing and Warner Chappell Music, have initiated a new lawsuit against artificial intelligence firm Anthropic. The complaint, filed in California, accuses Anthropic and its co founders of extensive, unlawful acquisition of copyrighted material. This action marks a significant legal challenge as the AI company reportedly prepares for a large initial public offering.

Credit: UNSPLASH

Thirty five publishers collectively allege that Anthropic and its co founders, Dario Amodei and Benjamin Mann, engaged in "illegally torrenting, scraping and downloading copyrighted works on a massive scale." They describe this as "one of the largest and most blatant ongoing thefts of intellectual property in history." The plaintiffs assert that these alleged violations directly aided Anthropic in developing, operating, and profiting from its Claude series of AI models. Anthropic has stated its intent to defend itself robustly in court, disputing the publishers' claims.

But this legal action comes at a critical juncture for Anthropic, a firm reportedly pursuing plans for a public listing that investors suggest could achieve a valuation of up to US$2 trillion, according to the Financial Times. This forms part of a broader legal pattern. Anthropic already faces other music copyright lawsuits from Concord, Universal Music Publishing, ABKCO Music & Records over song lyrics, and BMG for works by artists like Bruno Mars, Ariana Grande, and the Rolling Stones. The company also previously settled a US$1.5 billion dispute with authors and other book rights holders.

Documents unsealed earlier this year shed light on Anthropic's "Project Panama." This project involved the purchase and destructive scanning of millions of physical books from early 2024. While a judge in a previous case ruled that using books for language model training was permissible if the works were legally acquired, the method of acquisition and handling of materials remains a point of contention for some.

And a separate investigation by news outlet 404 Media revealed in Aug. that Amazon reportedly engaged in a comparable practice. This involved acquiring extensive quantities of books, scanning them for AI training material, and subsequently destroying them. Such revelations contribute to the industry debate about data sourcing practices.

Other major players in the Big Tech sector also face similar claims regarding their use of creative works. OpenAI, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, and Google, for instance, are subject to actions from authors, publishers, and various news organisations. Stability AI and Midjourney have been sued by artists, while music generators Suno and Udio face legal actions from record labels.

So, Chinese developers are also experiencing pressure within this domain. MiniMax faces litigation from Hollywood studios in the United States and from streaming platform iQiyi in Shanghai. ByteDance received a cease and desist letter from studios concerning its video generation platform, Seedance, before agreeing to stronger safeguards for content use.

Yu Lin, a partner at Han Kun Law Offices specialising in intellectual property litigation, noted a difference in judicial focus between jurisdictions. US courts typically focus on whether training data was obtained lawfully, with unauthorised acquisition potentially constituting infringement. Chinese courts, by contrast, primarily concentrate on AI generated outputs, applying conventional copyright tests to assess similarity to existing works. A guiding precedent on training data acquisition remains to be established in China. Many such disputes tend towards settlements.

But one notable instance occurred in April, when a Shanghai court determined a user had infringed copyright. This infringement involved publishing fine tuned models that replicated a character from a copyrighted anime cartoon. The platform, however, was cleared of liability after it swiftly removed the infringing content.

• Anthropic faces a lawsuit from 35 music publishers, including Sony Music Publishing and Warner Chappell Music, alleging widespread intellectual property theft.

• The AI firm denies the claims, but this legal action coincides with its reported plans for a potential US$2 trillion initial public offering.

• Anthropic previously reached a US$1.5 billion settlement with book rights holders, with its "Project Panama" involving the scanning and destruction of physical books.

• Other major Big Tech AI developers and Chinese tech companies are also experiencing similar copyright challenges globally.

• Judicial approaches to AI training data versus AI generated outputs differ between US and Chinese courts.

Source: SCMP