- Stakeholders in Elvis Presley’s catalog, including Authentic Brands Group and Raleigh Music Publishing, sued Anthropic on October 23, 2026, seeking $41 million in damages.
- The lawsuit accuses Anthropic of training its AI models on 274 Elvis Presley songs, including “Don’t Be Cruel” and “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” without permission.
- Plaintiffs claim Anthropic bypassed digital rights management protections and altered copyright management information on 247 of the songs.
- The suit follows earlier copyright lawsuits against Anthropic from Sony, Warner, Universal Music, and Concord Music Group over similar claims.
What Happened
On October 23, 2026, stakeholders in Elvis Presley’s music catalog filed a $41 million copyright infringement lawsuit against Anthropic, Engadget reported. The plaintiffs — including Authentic Brands Group, Raleigh Music Publishing, and several trusts — allege Anthropic trained its AI models on 274 Elvis Presley songs without authorization.
Why It Matters
The Elvis estate’s suit adds to a growing list of music-industry copyright claims against Anthropic. Sony and Warner previously sued the company over what they called a “blatant violation” of copyright law, and Universal Music and Concord Music Group filed an earlier claim seeking $3 billion over the alleged unauthorized use of 20,000 songs. Each case claims damages in the billions, though the Elvis suit is notable for concentrating its claim on a single artist’s catalog.
Technical Details
The complaint names 247 specific songs, including “Don’t Be Cruel,” “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” and “A Little Less Conversation,” and accuses Anthropic of bypassing DRM protections and removing or altering copyright management information embedded in the files. Lead attorney Richard Busch wrote that Anthropic’s business model relies on “copyright infringement at a scale never seen before.”
Who’s Affected
The suit adds to Anthropic’s legal exposure, which now includes parallel claims from Sony, Warner, Universal Music, Concord Music Group, and the Elvis estate, each seeking its own multi-million or multi-billion dollar judgment. Rights holders across the music industry are watching these cases to gauge how courts will value AI training uses of copyrighted catalogs, a question also playing out in other AI-related content disputes.
What’s Next
Anthropic has not publicly responded to the Elvis estate’s complaint. The case will proceed alongside Anthropic’s other pending music-copyright lawsuits, all unresolved as the company simultaneously pursues its October 26, 2026 IPO filing.
