Round Hill Music Sues Anthropic, Suno Over Alleged Use of 500 Songs in Claude AI Training

Music publisher sues Anthropic, Suno over AI training

Aug 17 (Reuters) - Independent music publisher Round Hill Music sued Anthropic and Suno in California federal court on Monday, alleging the AI companies misused hundreds of its songs to train their systems. Round Hill said in its complaint against Anthropic, opens new tab that the company used lyrics from at least 500 songs that the publisher has rights to -- including music from James Brown, The Kinks and the Goo Goo Dolls -- to help teach its chatbot Claude to respond to human prompts. The publisher alleged that Suno, opens new tab used the same songs to train its AI-powered music generation system. Round Hill told the court in both cases that it may eventually ⁠add "ten thousand or more" compositions to the lawsuits, seeking damages that could "potentially approach or conceivably exceed $1 billion." Spokespeople for Anthropic and Suno did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the case. "We intend to take these cases to trial and to hold these companies accountable, and we will not accept a resolution that leaves songwriters and artists deprived of their rightful share of compensation," Round Hill CEO Josh Gruss said in a statement. Round Hill's lawsuits add to dozens of cases pitting copyright owners such as authors and news outlets against tech giants including OpenAI, Microsoft and Meta Platforms over ⁠the training of their AI systems. Amazon-backed Anthropic was the first major AI company to settle one of the cases, agreeing last year to pay a group of authors $1.5 billion to resolve a class-action lawsuit. Anthropic is facing separate lawsuits from Universal Music Group (UMG.AS), opens new tab, BMG Rights Management and others for allegedly misusing thousands of their song lyrics for ⁠AI training. Suno is also facing separate lawsuits from UMG and Sony Music (6758.T), opens new tab over its AI training. The cases are Round Hill Music LP v. Anthropic PBC, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, No. 5:26-cv-08505 ⁠and Round Hill Music LP v. Suno Inc, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, No. 5:26-cv-08507. For Round Hill: Richard Busch of Adams & Reese; and Jeffrey Faucette of Skaggs Faucette For ⁠Anthropic and Suno: not yet available BMG sues Anthropic for using Bruno Mars, Rolling Stones lyrics in AI training Anthropic seeks pivotal court win in music publisher lawsuit over AI training Warner Music Group settles copyright case with Suno for licensed AI music Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab * Suggested Topics: * Legal Industry * Corporate Counsel * Intellectual Property Blake Brittain Thomson Reuters Blake Brittain reports on intellectual property law, including patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets, for Reuters Legal. He has previously written for Bloomberg Law and Thomson Reuters Practical Law and practiced as an attorney.

Anthropic faces copyright lawsuit over alleged use of 500 songs to train Claude AI

Round Hill has also sued Suno over alleged use of the same songs. Anthropic is facing a new copyright lawsuit over claims that it used hundreds of songs to train its Claude AI chatbot. Independent music publisher Round Hill Music filed the lawsuit in a California federal court on Monday, reports Reuters. The music publisher claims Anthropic used lyrics from at least 500 songs that it has rights to. These songs include works by artists such as James Brown, The Kinks and the Goo Goo Dolls. Round Hill has also sued Suno over alleged use of the same songs to train its AI music generation system. Round Hill said Anthropic used the lyrics to help Claude learn how to respond to human prompts. The music publisher told the court that the number of works involved could increase significantly. It said it may add "ten thousand or more" compositions to the lawsuits. Round Hill is seeking damages that could "potentially approach or conceivably exceed $1 billion." Also read: OpenAI disbands preparedness team responsible for assessing dangerous AI risks: Report Round Hill CEO Josh Gruss said the company plans to continue with the cases and seek compensation for songwriters and artists. "We intend to take these cases to trial and to hold these companies accountable, and we will not accept a resolution that leaves songwriters and artists deprived of their rightful share of compensation," Gruss was quoted as saying in the report. The lawsuits are part of a growing legal fight between copyright owners and AI companies. Publishers, authors, music companies and news organisations have accused major technology firms of using copyrighted material to train AI systems without permission. Also read: Sam Altman reveals how OpenAI's bold AGI bet attracted top AI researchers Anthropic has already faced other copyright cases involving books and music. Last year, the Amazon-backed AI company agreed to pay $1.5 billion to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by a group of authors. The company is also facing separate legal action from Universal Music Group and BMG Rights Management over the alleged use of song lyrics to train its AI systems. Suno is also facing its own copyright lawsuits from major music companies, including Universal Music Group and Sony Music.