Music rights management company BMG has sued Anthropic, accusing the artificial intelligence firm of running “roughshod over the rights” of songwriters, from Grammy-winning stars to emerging artists.
In a lawsuit filed in federal court in California, BMG claims Anthropic used lyrics from artists including Justin Bieber, Bruno Mars, Ariana Grande, and The Rolling Stones to train its Claude chatbot without authorization. The company claims the infringement dates to Anthropic’s founding, when it allegedly used automated scraping tools to copy text from public websites and illegal online pirate libraries.
“Anthropic’s illegal conduct does not stop with these multiple direct infringements,” the complaint, obtained by Rolling Stone, claims. “Anthropic also facilitates, encourages, and profits from copyright infringement by its licensees and users of its Claude models.” The suit alleges Anthropic is secondarily liable for contributory and vicarious infringement tied to those uses.
Anthropic did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company was founded in 2021 by former staffers of OpenAI, the research lab behind ChatGPT. The new lawsuit is the latest in a wave of claims against artificial intelligence companies.
In the 47-page complaint, BMG argues that Anthropic clearly trained its models on BMG-managed music because Claude has readily supplied users with all or significant portions of the chart-topping songs “Uptown Funk” by Bruno Mars, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” by the Rolling Stones,” and Louis Armstrong’s “What A Wonderful World.”
“BMG has never authorized Anthropic to use its copyrighted compositions in connection with Claude,” the lawsuit states. It adds that Anthropic did not respond to a cease-and-desist letter sent in December 2025 or engage in licensing discussions.
BMG contends Anthropic’s rapid growth does not excuse the alleged violations. “Generations of inventors have brought revolutionary new products to market while complying with copyright law,” the complaint states. “Anthropic’s rapid development of its new technology is no excuse for its egregious law-breaking.”
BMG is seeking damages of up to $150,000 per allegedly infringed work, along with a court order requiring Anthropic to disclose details about its training data, methods, and model capabilities, including identifying any BMG-controlled material used. The lawsuit also accuses Anthropic of continuing the alleged infringement despite mounting legal challenges.
“Anthropic could cease its infringing conduct at any time,” the complaint states. “Yet, despite repeated lawsuits from creators and owners of a variety of copyrighted works and a specific written request from BMG to stop the wrongdoing at issue in this lawsuit, Anthropic has refused to do so, making a mockery of its stated founding principles of building a better and ‘broadly ethical’ AI model.”
