Music publishers escalate Anthropic lawsuit over massive book piracy scheme

Major music publishers are challenging the adequacy of Anthropic's recent billion-dollar settlement, alleging the company engaged in systematic copyright theft to train its AI models—and that the punishment doesn't fit the crime.

Sony, EMI, and Warner Chappell filed suit this week arguing that Anthropic's $1.5 billion payment to authors for pirating over 7 million books is insufficient deterrent for a company now valued at $2 trillion. "[P]laintiffs assert that the settlement amount pales in comparison to the commercial gains Anthropic has reaped," the publishers contend in court filings, pointing out that the company plans to retain pirated content indefinitely for model training.

The scope of the alleged infringement#

The publishers' complaint centers on what they describe as Anthropic's large-scale torrenting operation targeting thousands of copyrighted musical compositions. Court documents cite examples of materials allegedly accessed through pirate distribution networks, including compilation albums (Beatles, Taylor Swift), classic rock anthologies, and sheet music spanning decades.

The publishers argue this piracy directly harms working songwriters and recording artists, particularly those struggling to compete as AI-generated music proliferates in commercial spaces and charts.

How the alleged scheme operated#

Court filings trace the torrenting campaign back to July 2021, when Anthropic co-founder Benjamin Mann reportedly used BitTorrent to download millions of pirated books from Library Genesis (LibGen), a known pirate library. Co-founder and CEO Dario Amodei allegedly approved the operation. Both men are named individually as defendants.

The competitive harm#

Publishers argue Anthropic will continue exploiting this unlawfully-acquired material unless blocked by court order. They contend the company can use detailed song lyrics and sheet music to generate new compositions that mimic the style of established artists—potentially allowing Claude to substitute for human creators in lucrative markets.

For instance, the complaint suggests Claude could be prompted to rewrite Eminem lyrics in "Beyoncé's style," raising concerns about unauthorized derivative works and the erosion of artists' market control.