Companies, trusts and individuals that own rights to songs recorded by Elvis Presley sued Anthropic on Friday, Oct. 23, alleging the company copied 274 of the compositions without permission to train its Claude AI models. Billboard first reported the suit.
The lead plaintiff is ABG EPE IP LLC, a unit of Authentic Brands Group, the licensing company that controls much of Presley’s song catalog and his name and likeness, according to Billboard. Other Presley rights holders joined the case, including Raleigh Music Publishing, Abilene Music, several trusts and an individual, Jason Simeon Aberbach, according to the complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California as case No. 5:26-cv-12473.
What the complaint alleges
The works include “All Shook Up,” “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” “Don’t Be Cruel” and “A Little Less Conversation.” Richard Busch, the plaintiffs’ lead attorney, wrote that Anthropic “has built its entire business model based on copyright infringement at a scale never seen before,” Billboard reported. The complaint says Claude continues to produce protected material even after the company “supposedly put up ‘guardrails’ after being sued.”
As evidence, the complaint says Claude was recently asked to recreate specific songs “for a modern audience” and replied that its versions were “edging past ‘inspired by’ into reproducing the copyrighted song, even when the words are swapped out,” as Rolling Stone also reported.
The plaintiffs seek statutory damages of up to $150,000 per work, or $41.1 million for the 274 songs, plus separate claims that Anthropic circumvented access controls and stripped copyright management information. They also ask for an injunction and destruction of unauthorized copies. “The Elvis Plaintiffs are deeply protective of these iconic songs,” Busch wrote, according to Billboard.
Anthropic’s response
Billboard reported that Anthropic did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday. A spokesperson later told NBC News: “We disagree with the claims and intend to defend this case fully.” AI companies generally argue that training on existing works is fair use, a question still pending in dozens of lawsuits, Billboard noted.
Anthropic already faces a lyrics suit in the same court, which AI Tech Daily covered when Sony Music Publishing and Warner Chappell sued in late August.
Sources
- Billboard: Anthropic Sued For Stealing Elvis Presley Music to Train AI (October 24, 2026)
- Rolling Stone: Elvis Presley Rightsholders Sue Anthropic for Training on 274 Songs Without Permission (October 2026)
- NBC News: Elvis Presley’s rights holders sue Anthropic, saying it trained AI on his music (October 25, 2026)
- Complaint: ABG EPE IP LLC v. Anthropic PBC, No. 5:26-cv-12473 (N.D. Cal., filed October 23, 2026)