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Anthropic Seeks Court Victory in AI Copyright Dispute Over Song Lyrics

By  |  April 22, 2026

Artificial intelligence firm Anthropic has asked a federal court in California to rule in its favor in an ongoing copyright lawsuit brought by major music publishers, arguing that its use of song lyrics to train its chatbot qualifies as fair use.

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    According to Reuters, the company filed a motion on Monday requesting summary judgment, which would allow it to win the case without proceeding to a full jury trial. The lawsuit, filed by Universal Music Group, Concord, and ABKCO, centers on whether it is legally permissible for AI developers to copy large volumes of copyrighted material without permission to train machine learning systems.

    Anthropic argued in its filing that its use of lyrics was “transformative,” stating that the material was used to “help Claude understand human language and enable progress and productivity in science, business and education,” according to Reuters. The company maintains that its AI system, Claude, does not simply replicate the original works but instead uses them to generate new forms of language understanding.

    The music publishers, however, have taken a different stance. Per Reuters, they argued in court filings last month that Anthropic’s actions do not meet the standard for fair use. They claim the chatbot can produce outputs that resemble or derive from their copyrighted lyrics, potentially harming the market value of those works. The publishers said such outputs “compete with and dilute the market” for their music.

    The case traces back to a 2023 lawsuit in which the publishers accused Anthropic of infringing copyrights tied to hundreds of songs by artists including Beyonce, the Rolling Stones, and the Beach Boys. The dispute is part of a broader wave of legal challenges brought by copyright holders—including authors, musicians, and news organizations—against major technology companies developing AI systems.

    Related: Bessent, Powell Summon Bank CEOs Over Anthropic’s New AI Model  

    According to Reuters, Anthropic is backed by major tech players Amazon and Google and was previously involved in another high-profile case. The company agreed last year to pay $1.5 billion to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by a group of authors, making it the first major AI firm to resolve such claims through a settlement.

    Legal experts expect that many of these cases will hinge on how courts interpret the concept of fair use in the context of artificial intelligence. The issue remains unsettled, with two judges issuing conflicting rulings on similar questions last year, per Reuters.

    In its latest filing, Anthropic emphasized the broader implications of the case. “Claude is the kind of new idea that the Copyright Act not only allows, but encourages,” the company said. It added, “Allowing copyright holders to veto such a transformative technology would ignore the Supreme Court’s mandate that the primary objective of copyright is not to reward the author, but to serve the public.”

    Spokespeople for the music publishers did not immediately respond to requests for comment, according to Reuters. Anthropic also declined to provide additional remarks on the filing.

    The case, Concord Music Group Inc v. Anthropic PBC, is being heard in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California under Judge Eumi Lee.

    Source: Reuters