Sony, Warner Chappell Sue Anthropic and Its Founders Over Pirated Lyrics
Music publishers are seeking statutory damages that could reach billions across the works at issue. The suit personally names Anthropic's CEO and a co-founder as defendants alongside the company.
Sony Music Publishing and Warner Chappell filed suit against Anthropic, CEO Dario Amodei, and co-founder Benjamin Mann, alleging mass copyright infringement of musical compositions in Claude's training data. Plaintiffs seek up to $150,000 per willfully infringed work and up to $25,000 per alleged removal of copyright management information, along with disclosure of Anthropic's training data and destruction of infringing copies. The complaint alleges Anthropic illegally used thousands of copyrighted musical compositions sourced from pirated databases including LibGen and PiLiMi. Mann allegedly discussed acquiring LibGen data with Amodei, who approved torrenting it; internal staff chats referencing Z-Library are also cited as evidence. Music publishers argue Anthropic's $1.5 billion settlement with authors over pirated books was insufficient deterrence given the company's projected $2 trillion valuation. This action is at least the fifth major music publisher suit against Anthropic. Days after the suit became public, Anthropic added an extensive section to Claude's Fable 5.1 system prompt prohibiting reproduction of song lyrics, poems, and book passages in any form.
A September 4 report confirmed that Sony Music Publishing and Warner Chappell's suit, which alleges Anthropic trained Claude on pirated musical compositions from databases including LibGen and PiLiMi, personally names CEO Dario Amodei and co-founder Benjamin Mann as defendants alongside the company.
The complaint alleges Mann discussed acquiring LibGen data with Amodei, who approved torrenting it, and that a prior court had found Mann knew the books were pirated.
A September 3 commentary at thezvi.substack.com characterized the suit, which alleges Anthropic illegally used copyrighted musical compositions to train Claude, as appearing modeled on the book lawsuit that settled for $1.5 billion and on RIAA litigation tactics, with the author expressing deep unsympathy toward it.
A commentator characterized the suit as modeled on the book litigation and RIAA tactics, expressing deep unsympathy toward it
Anthropic's Claude Fable 5.1 system prompt was reported September 2 to include a section prohibiting reproduction of song lyrics, poems, and book passages, days after Sony Music Publishing and Warner Chappell sued over alleged use of copyrighted compositions in Claude's training. Claude continues declining narrower or reworded versions once it has declined a request, with works published before 1929 exempt. Simon Willison, who reported the change, doubted 'it's a coincidence that they added this section within days of the news breaking'.
Anthropic added a section to Claude's Fable 5.1 system prompt prohibiting reproduction of song lyrics, poems, and book passages
Sony Music Publishing and Warner Chappell filed suit against Anthropic in late August 2026, alleging the company used thousands of copyrighted musical compositions to train Claude and characterizing the conduct as 'one of history's biggest and most blatant ongoing intellectual property thefts'.
The complaint seeks up to $150,000 per willfully infringed work and cites internal staff chats referencing Z-Library, along with an allegation that CEO Dario Amodei approved torrenting pirated LibGen data. The filing is at least the fifth major music publisher suit against Anthropic, following actions by Universal Music Publishing Group, BMG, and Round Hill Music, and references Anthropic's $1.5 billion settlement with authors as insufficient deterrence given the company's projected $2 trillion valuation tied to an expected October IPO.
Sony Music Publishing and Warner Chappell sued Anthropic, CEO Dario Amodei, and co-founder Benjamin Mann over alleged mass copyright infringement in Claude's training data
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