Major music publishers already locked in court with artificial intelligence firm Anthropic fired a second legal salvo Wednesday, filing a new lawsuit seeking more than $3 billion and accusing the company of sweeping, newly uncovered copyright violations involving sheet music and songbooks.
The case, filed in California federal court, deepens one of the most closely watched clashes between the music industry and generative AI developers, raising the stakes in what publishers describe as a fight to protect the backbone of the creative economy.
Publishers Say New Infringement Was Hidden
The plaintiffs — a roster that includes Universal Music Publishing Group and Concord Music Group Inc. — say the latest claims are “distinct and separate” from those raised in their earlier lawsuit against Anthropic. The new action centers on thousands of additional songs and, according to the publishers, could rank among the largest non-class action copyright cases ever brought in the United States.
In court papers, the publishers accuse Anthropic of continuing to use their copyrighted works without authorization while training and publicly releasing successive versions of its AI chatbot, Claude — even after the first amended complaint was filed.
They argue the company pressed forward despite publicly touting the adoption of so-called “guardrails” meant to prevent infringement.
