Elvis Presley music rights holders sue Anthropic, seeking about $41 million
Authentic Brands Group and several publishers that jointly hold the Elvis Presley song catalog filed a federal lawsuit, ABE EPE LLC v. Anthropic, alleging that Claude was trained on 274 songs and seeking about $41 million based on the statutory maximum of $150,000 per song for willful infringement. The lawsuit targets both training and output, claiming that Claude reproduced nearly the entire online catalog even after Anthropic added safeguards due to earlier publisher lawsuits, and cites Claude's own statement that its rewrites preserved the structure and hook of the original songs. Anthropic had not responded when the lawsuit was first reported, and the claims have not been heard by a court; in 2025, a federal judge ruled that training Claude on lawfully purchased books constituted fair use, but portions of output resembling lyrics were not within the scope of that ruling.
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The case examines training data and output reproduction separately, allowing readers to understand where the boundaries of fair use rulings in copyright litigation lie.
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Elvis Presley’s music owners sued Anthropic for about $41M, alleging Claude was trained on 274 songs.
Authentic Brands Group filed the federal case, ABE EPE LLC v. Anthropic, alongside several publishers that co-own the catalog.
Its demand multiplies those 274 works by $150K, the maximum statutory damages US copyright law allows per work for willful infringement.
It targets both training and outputs, alleging Claude reproduced material from nearly every song catalog online, even after Anthropic added guardrails following earlier publisher suits.
As evidence, it quotes Claude admitting that its rewrites of specific songs “for a modern audience” reused the originals’ structure and hooks with light rewording.
Anthropic had not responded when the suit was first reported, and no court has tested any of these claims.
In 2025, a federal judge ruled that training Claude on lawfully purchased books was fair use, a precedent Anthropic will likely cite against the training claims.
Near-copies of lyrics in Claude’s answers sit outside that ruling, so the case may hinge on how reliably Anthropic’s guardrails block them.