Source: The Economic Times (Legal)

Anthropic asked a California federal court to rule in its favor in a copyright lawsuit by music publishers Universal Music Group, Concord and ABKCO, arguing that its use of copyrighted song lyrics to train the Claude chatbot constitutes fair use. The filing frames the training as "transformative" because it helps Claude understand human language and supports progress in science, business and education, while the publishers contend Claude produces derivatives that compete with and dilute the market for the original lyrics. The publishers sued Anthropic in 2023 over hundreds of songs, citing artists such as Beyonce, the Rolling Stones and the Beach Boys; Anthropic previously settled a separate authors' class action for $1.5 billion. The company requested summary judgment from U.S. District Judge Eumi Lee, asking the court to decide fair use in its favor without a jury trial. The litigation is identified as Concord Music Group Inc v. Anthropic PBC, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, No. 5:24-cv-03811.

The filing is presented amid a wider wave of disputes between creators and technology firms over whether copying copyrighted works to train AI models is legally permissible, with the article noting that fair use is likely to be the pivotal question across these high-stakes cases. Reporting references divergent rulings by earlier judges on related issues and lists counsel for both sides: Matt Oppenheim for the publishers and Sonal Mehta for Anthropic. The published report is tied to California and dated 22 April 2026.