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Case: Music publishers v. Anthropic 2 stories

Anthropic sued over Claude output of 274 songs, some recorded by Elvis Presley

The complaint, filed in the Northern District of California, alleges copyright infringement, circumvention of access controls and removal of copyright management information. It is not a ruling.

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Check our sources · 10 facts from 2 sources

ABG EPE IP LLC and other rights holders in Elvis Presley compositions filed a complaint against Anthropic PBC on 23 October 2026 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

It covers 274 musical compositions and has three causes of action: direct copyright infringement, circumvention of protection measures under 17 U.S.C. 1201, and removal or alteration of copyright management information under section 1202. These are the plaintiffs' allegations; the complaint is not a ruling.

The plaintiffs demand a jury trial.

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1 Docket, ABG EPE IP LLC v. Anthropic PBC, 5:26-cv-12473 (N.D. Cal.)CourtListener (Free Law Project), RECAP archive of the court docket · 23 Oct 2026 · 1 fact Open the source

  1. The court docket for ABG EPE IP LLC v. Anthropic PBC, Case No. 5:26-cv-12473, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, shows the complaint (document 1) entered on 23 October 2026.

    cite
2 Complaint, ABG EPE IP LLC et al. v. Anthropic PBC, No. 5:26-cv-12473 (N.D. Cal., filed 23 Oct 2026), ECF 1U.S. District Court, N.D. Cal., via CourtListener RECAP · 23 Oct 2026 · 9 facts Open the source archived copy

  1. The complaint, filed as Document 1 in Case No. 5:26-cv-12473 in the Northern District of California, is captioned as brought by ABG EPE IP LLC; The Luigi Creatore Trust; The Susan T. Aberbach Revocable Trust; The Decedents Exempt Trust created under the Anne-Rachel Aberbach Family Trust; Jason Simeon Aberbach; Abilene Music LLC; and Raleigh Music Publishing LLC against Anthropic PBC.

    ABG EPE IP LLC; THE LUIGI CREATORE TRUST AND CLAIRE CREATORE AND STEPHEN CHAPMAN AS TRUSTEES; THE SUSAN T. ABERBACH REVOCABLE TRUST ... Case Number: 5:26-cv-12473
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  2. The complaint says the plaintiffs own or control exclusive rights in 274 musical compositions identified in its Exhibit A, including works recorded by Elvis Presley.

    including some of the most timeless and iconic musical compositions in the world recorded by Elvis Presley. The 274 musical compositions are identified in the attached Exhibit A
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  3. The complaint pleads three causes of action: copyright infringement, circumvention of protection measures under 17 U.S.C. section 1201, and removal or alteration of copyright management information under 17 U.S.C. section 1202.

    COMPLAINT FOR DIRECT COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT, CIRCUMVENTION OF PROTECTION MEASURES, AND REMOVAL OR ALTERATION OF CMI
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  4. The complaint alleges, on information and belief, that Claude has created infringing output for all 274 of the Works (paragraph 68).

    68. On information and belief, Claude has created infringing output for all 274 of the Works
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  5. The complaint alleges that Anthropic circumvented access controls on licensed streaming and lyrics platforms, including login requirements, paid-subscription paywalls and CAPTCHA challenges, to obtain copies for its training corpora (paragraphs 91 and 92).

    92. Anthropic violated 17 U.S.C. section 1201(a)(1) by circumventing ... thereby obtaining unauthorized copies for inclusion in its training corpora and internal repository. (91: user-authentication requirements; paid-subscription paywalls; CAPTCHA and bot-detection challenges)
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  6. The complaint alleges that Anthropic intentionally removed or altered copyright management information from the Works during its data-cleaning pipeline (paragraph 97).

    97. Anthropic intentionally removed or altered CMI from The Elvis Plaintiffs' copyrighted Works during its data-cleaning pipeline
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  7. The complaint seeks statutory damages of $41,100,000 for copyright infringement, the maximum $150,000 per Work for 274 Works (paragraph 89).

    seek the maximum amount of $41,100,000 in statutory damages for Defendant's willful infringements.
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  8. The complaint seeks a total of $685,000 on the section 1201 claim and $6,850,000 on the section 1202 claim (paragraphs 94 and 99).

    seek a total of $685,000 for their 274 Works listed in Exhibit A. ... seek a total of $6,850,000 for their 274 Works listed in Exhibit A.
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  9. The complaint demands a trial by jury.

    Plaintiffs demand a trial by jury on all issues so triable
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