Elvis Presley's Music Owners Sue Anthropic Over 274 Songs

The rights holders say Anthropic trained Claude on the songs without permission and want up to $150,000 for each one.

The owners of Elvis Presley's music want up to $150,000 apiece for 274 of his songs, and they've sued Anthropic to get it.

In a lawsuit filed Oct. 23 in federal court in the Northern District of California, the rights holders say Anthropic trained its chatbot, Claude, on those songs without permission or payment. NME reported the suit, citing Billboard, and Pitchfork covered it too. The case is the latest test of whether AI companies can learn from songs without paying the people who own it.

The math adds up quickly. At the $150,000 statutory ceiling per song, NME put the total near $41.1 million. Variety reported that the group is seeking $48.6 million in all, plus an order that Anthropic stop infringing.

The plaintiffs' most pointed claim is about what Claude puts out. According to the complaint, Anthropic added safeguards meant to keep Claude from reproducing existing song lyrics. Yet when recently asked to remake specific songs "for a modern audience," the plaintiffs say, the chatbot produced versions that stayed close to the originals.

The complaint goes further and quotes Claude describing its own output as "edging past 'inspired by' into reproducing the copyrighted song," The Hollywood Reporter wrote, quoting the lawsuit. That exchange comes from the plaintiffs' telling.

Who's suing? NME reported that the case is led by a unit of Authentic Brands Group, the company that owns a big piece of Presley's intellectual property, his name and likeness included. Variety reported that Raleigh Music Publishing and other rights holders signed on too. The songs at issue include "Can't Help Falling in Love," "Don't Be Cruel" and "Return to Sender," along with "Run On" and "Farther Along."

Presley's catalog is joining a crowded docket. Universal Music Publishing Group, Concord and ABKCO took Anthropic to court over Claude and song lyrics in October 2023, NME noted. Two more publishers, Sony Music Publishing and Warner Chappell, followed this August, saying Claude learned from their lyrics and sheet music, according to NME. And Variety reported that Richard Busch, the Elvis plaintiffs' lead attorney, brought a separate case in August for Round Hill Music, an indie publisher, asking Anthropic for $1 billion.

Anthropic has also settled once before. Variety reported a $1.5 billion settlement last year with book authors who said the company misused their books to train its models.

An Anthropic spokesperson told Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, "We disagree with the claims and intend to defend this case fully." In past cases, NME noted, the company has argued that U.S. fair-use law can cover training AI on copyrighted work.

Busch sees it differently. In the filing, he wrote that Anthropic "has built its entire business model based on copyright infringement at a scale never seen before," NME reported.

Busch also follows the money. According to Variety, the complaint ties the use of Presley's catalog to Anthropic's pursuit of an initial public offering that could reach $2 trillion. In it, Busch argues that songs written over decades are losing their value "in a matter of a few years with only profit as its motive."

Busch has won a song fight before. He represented Marvin Gaye's estate against Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams over "Blurred Lines," a case that ended with a ruling that the 2013 hit infringed Gaye's 1977 song "Got to Give It Up."

Source: nme.com, retrieved October 26, 2026. Other sources: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter.