# Elvis estate sues Anthropic over 274 songs in Claude training

> Authentic Brands Group and music publishers claim Anthropic trained Claude on Elvis lyrics without permission, seeking forty-one point one million dollars.
- Title: Elvis estate sues Anthropic over 274 songs in Claude training
- Summary: Authentic Brands Group and music publishers claim Anthropic trained Claude on Elvis lyrics without permission, seeking forty-one point one million dollars…
- Keywords: anthropic, claude, elvis presley, authentic brands group, copyright lawsuit, music publishing, ai training data, fair use, technology, startups, Elvis, estate
- Source: The Next Web — https://thenextweb.com/news/elvis-presley-anthropic-lawsuit-274-songs-claude
- Author: Ana-Maria Stanciuc
- Published: 2026-10-26T17:50:15+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: anthropic, claude, elvis presley, authentic brands group, copyright lawsuit, music publishing, ai training data, fair use, technology, startups
## Elvis owners sue Anthropic for forty-one point one million
Authentic Brands Group and music publishers filed a copyright lawsuit against Anthropic on Friday in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, seeking forty-one point one million dollars or one hundred fifty…
## Two hundred seventy-four Elvis songs named in complaint
The lawsuit names songs including All Shook Up, Can't Help Falling in Love, Don't Be Cruel and Return to Sender. The plaintiffs say Anthropic used their lyrics to train Claude without a licence or payment.
## Claude still reproduces songs despite guardrails
The complaint says copying ran through Claude's entire development and continues today. When asked to recreate songs for a modern audience, Claude wrote that renders keep landing very close to originals with same structure and…

> These renders keep landing very close to the originals: same structure, same hooks reused with light rewording, and full sets of verses/choruses/bridges.
## Part of broader wave of music copyright suits
Sony Music Publishing, Warner Chappell, Universal Music Publishing Group, Concord, ABKCO and BMG have all sued Anthropic over training data. Round Hill Music and Reservoir Media have sued both Anthropic and AI music company Suno.
## Anthropic defends fair use, faces settlement history
Anthropic said it disagrees with the claims and intends to defend the case fully, arguing that training models on lyrics is fair use under US law.

> We disagree with the claims and intend to defend this case fully.
## Key takeaway

Elvis Presley's catalogue owners sued Anthropic for training Claude on 274 songs without licence, seeking forty-one point one million dollars in damages.