I. General information
Date of Latest Docket: 26.03.2025
Issuing Authority: United States District Court – Northern District of California
Category: Copyright – Copyright infringement of AI training data
Plaintiff/Appellant: Concord Music Group, Inc. & other music publishers
Defendant/Respondent: Anthropic PBC
Keyworks: AI; text mining; data mining; training data; damage; DMCA; U.S.
II. Dispute
The lawsuit between Concord Music Group, Inc., along with other music publishers such as Universal Music Group and ABKCO Music, against the artificial intelligence company Anthropic PBC began in 2023. The plaintiffs allege that Anthropic used thousands of copyrighted song lyrics, including those of artists like Beyoncé and The Rolling Stones, to train its Claude AI chatbot model without permission.
III. Legal basis
DMCA § 1202(b)
IV. Judgement
In June 2024, a U.S. federal court transferred the case from Tennessee to California. By November of the same year, the parties had agreed on the implementation of safeguards (or "guardrails") to prevent the Claude chatbot from generating copyrighted lyrics, in an attempt to resolve part of the lawsuit.
However, in March 2025, the court denied the request for a preliminary injunction against Anthropic's use of lyrics in AI training. Judge Eumi Lee stated that the publishers had not demonstrated the irreparable harm necessary to impose an injunction.
