In a recent legal development, three major music publishers have entered the ongoing legal battle against generative artificial intelligence, seeking to prevent the unauthorized use of their copyrighted material for AI training purposes. Universal Music Group, Concord Music Group, and ABKCO have jointly filed a lawsuit against Anthropic in a Tennessee federal court. They allege that the company has engaged in “systematic and widespread infringement” by replicating and disseminating lyrics from over 500 songs belonging to artists such as Katy Perry, the Rolling Stones, and Beyoncé.
This lawsuit represents a significant milestone as it is the first instance of a music publisher taking legal action against an AI company specifically for the utilization of copyrighted lyrics. This lawsuit comes on the heels of another lawsuit filed by the Authors Guild, a prominent organization representing fiction authors that includes well-known figures like George R.R. Martin, Jonathan Franzen, and John Grisham. Last month, they sued OpenAI, a company led by Sam Altman, alleging that it had engaged in a “systematic course of mass-scale copyright infringement” to support its lucrative commercial ventures. This marked at least the third legal challenge faced by OpenAI regarding its use of copyrighted books to train its GPT model.
The complaint states,”Anthropic has neither sought nor secured Publishers’ permission to use their valuable copyrighted works in this way. Just as Anthropic does not want its code taken without its authorization, neither do music publishers or any other copyright owners want their works to be exploited without permission.”
Allegations and Concerns in the Legal Dispute
In a legal dispute centered on Anthropic, a company supported by Amazon, music publishers are accusing the AI firm of systematically copying and using song lyrics without permission. The publishers point to Anthropic’s AI chatbot, Claude, as a primary offender, which allegedly provides verbatim lyrics from songs owned by these publishers. For example, when asked for the lyrics to Katy Perry’s “Roar,” owned by Concord, Claude produced nearly identical lyrics, according to the lawsuit.
The publishers argue that Anthropic’s actions are undercutting an established market by appropriating their content without authorization or compensation. They emphasize that music lyric aggregators and websites have licensed their works, while Anthropic refuses to do so. This refusal to license the content, despite profiting from it, is alleged to strip publishers and their songwriters of control over their copyrighted material, infringing on the fruits of their creative endeavors. Moreover, the lawsuit contends that Anthropic’s actions create unfair competition against website developers who respect copyright laws and pay for licenses. The plaintiffs claim that this behavior also undermines existing and potential licensing markets in various ways, aiming to counter Anthropic’s anticipated fair use defense.
Universal Music Weighs In on the Copyright Lawsuit
The legal action references a recent Supreme Court decision in Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts v. Goldsmith, where the court stressed the need to balance the transformative nature of an alleged infringement against the “commercial nature of the use.” The music publishers are striving to demonstrate that Anthropic’s alleged copyright infringement adversely affects their ability to profit from their material by obstructing potential licensing deals for their lyrics’ use.
Additionally, the lawsuit asserts that Anthropic’s AI, Claude, generates responses containing copyrighted lyrics even when explicitly asked not to do so, such as in prompts to compose songs, provide chord progressions, or create poetry in a specific artist’s style.
The publishers are pursuing claims of direct copyright infringement, as well as vicarious and contributory infringement, and allege illegal removal of copyright management information. They are seeking a court order to prevent Anthropic from using their copyrighted material and up to $150,000 in damages for each infringement.
Matthew Oppenheim, who is legal counsel for the publishers, made a clear declaration regarding the matter. He emphasized that copyright law has long established a fundamental principle: an entity cannot use, share, or showcase copyrighted materials belonging to others in order to develop its own business without obtaining proper authorization from the copyright holders.
As for Anthropic, they have yet to provide a response when contacted for comment.
