Universal & Other Music Publishers Sue AI Company Over Alleged Copyright Violations

According to variety.com, on October 18 the publishing companies Universal, Concord and ABKCO have allegedly filed an alleged complaint against the new AI company Anthropic for alleged copyright violations.

The alleged legal issues allegedly come from Anthropic’s alleged series of AI models referred to as Claude. The lawsuit serves as the latest move in the music industry’s efforts to allegedly stop it from causing an alleged massive copyright threat from AI developers.

The alleged complaint states: “Publishers bring this action to address the systematic and widespread infringement of their copyrighted song lyrics by the artificial intelligence (‘AI’) company Anthropic. In the process of building and operating AI models, Anthropic unlawfully copies and disseminates vast amounts of copyrighted works — including the lyrics to myriad musical compositions owned or controlled by Publishers.”

The alleged complaint adds: “Publishers embrace innovation and recognize the great promise of AI when used ethically and responsibly. But Anthropic violates these principles on a systematic and widespread basis. Anthropic must abide by well-established copyright laws, just as countless other technology companies regularly do. Although the AI technology involved in this case may be complex and cutting edge, the legal issues presented here are straightforward and long-standing.

The alleged complaint continues with:  “A defendant cannot reproduce, distribute, and display someone else’s copyrighted works to build its own business unless it secures permission from the rightsholder. This foundational rule of copyright law dates all the way back to the Statute of Anne in 1710, and it has been applied time and time again to numerous infringing technological developments in the centuries since. That principle does not fall away simply because a company adorns its infringement with the words ‘AI.’”

Cait Stoddard: Hello! My name is Caitlin and my job is writing music news stories and reviewing metal music albums. I enjoy collecting vinyl, playing video games, watching movies and going to concerts.
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