Key points
- What we know about the Elvis complaint so far
- Richard Busch brings his third music suit against Anthropic
- The cited Claude response came from an earlier case
Companies that hold rights to songs recorded by Elvis Presley sued Anthropic in federal court in San Jose, California on Friday, October 23, alleging that the company used 274 songs to train its Claude AI models without permission.
The lead plaintiff is ABG EPE IP LLC, according to the court docket. We haven't reviewed the Presley complaint; our account of its allegations and damages sought relies on press reports. Rolling Stone's report describes the plaintiffs as Authentic Brands Group, which controls Presley's music and likeness, along with other rights holders. They are seeking up to $150,000 per song in statutory damages, or $41.1 million for the 274 songs. The Los Angeles Times put the total damages sought at roughly $50 million. The songs include "All Shook Up," "Can't Help Falling in Love," and "Don't Be Cruel."
Anthropic responded on Sunday, October 25. "We disagree with the claims and intend to defend this case fully," a spokesperson said.
The same lawyer sued Anthropic two days earlier
The Presley plaintiffs are represented by Richard Busch of Adams and Reese, who won the "Blurred Lines" case for Marvin Gaye's family.
On October 21, Busch filed a similar suit against Anthropic for Reservoir Media (RSVR) and Shapiro, Bernstein & Co., covering 853 songs. They include Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi" and Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire." That complaint seeks $127,950,000 in statutory damages on its copyright infringement claim. It says Anthropic "has built its entire business model based on copyright infringement at a scale never seen before."
In August, Busch filed suit against Anthropic for Round Hill Music, listing 500 songs as a first batch. Round Hill said the total damages could "potentially approach or conceivably exceed $1 billion."
A Claude quote in the Presley suit first appeared in Round Hill's case
Coverage of the Presley suit quoted Claude saying its song rewrites "keep landing very close to the originals." When I read Reservoir's complaint, I found the same quote there, with a footnote citing Round Hill's August complaint as its source.
The quoted exchange involved Round Hill songs, not songs recorded by Presley. Claude had been asked to rewrite "Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls, "I Got You (I Feel Good)" by James Brown, and "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler for "a modern audience."
A ruling in Anthropic's first lyrics case is pending
The first music publishers' suit against Anthropic was brought by Concord Music Group, Universal Music Publishing Group, and ABKCO. Judge Eumi Lee heard both sides' summary judgment motions on October 21, with fair use as the central question. A ruling had not been reported as of Sunday.
Sony Music Publishing and Warner Chappell sued Anthropic in August, also naming chief executive Dario Amodei and co-founder Benjamin Mann personally. Anthropic agreed in September 2025 to pay $1.5 billion to settle a class action by book authors.
