# Elvis Presley's Rights Holders Sue Anthropic Over 274 Songs, Seeking Up to $150,000 Each

Times of AI Desk · 2026-10-26 · Policy

[https://timesof.ai/2026/10/elvis-presley-rights-holders-sue-anthropic-274-songs](https://timesof.ai/2026/10/elvis-presley-rights-holders-sue-anthropic-274-songs)

> Authentic Brands Group and other owners of Elvis Presley's music sued Anthropic on Friday, October 23, alleging that Claude was trained on the lyrics of 274 Presley songs without a licence and still produces infringing outputs. They seek statutory damages of up to $150,000 per song, about $41.1 million in total. Anthropic says it disagrees with the claims and will defend the case.

This suit goes after what Claude produces today, not only what it was trained on: the plaintiffs say its guardrails against reproducing lyrics do not work. Authentic Brands Group, which controls Presley's intellectual property, filed the case with other rights holders on **Friday, October 23**, NBC News reported.

## What the complaint alleges

The plaintiffs accuse Anthropic of infringing copyrights in 274 Presley songs "without any license or payment," according to NBC News. NBC News lists songs including "All Shook Up," "Can't Help Falling in Love," "Don't Be Cruel" and "Return to Sender." They allege infringement throughout "the entire development" of Claude, continuing as users generate outputs that reproduce lyrics or adapt the songs, NBC News reported.

The Guardian quotes the complaint as saying that Anthropic's "institution of guardrails (albeit ineffectively)" to limit infringing outputs shows it "knowingly engaged and continues to willfully engage in copyright infringement." Lead attorney Richard Busch wrote in the complaint that Anthropic "has built its entire business model based on copyright infringement at a scale never seen before," according to The Guardian.

## What they want, and Anthropic's answer

The plaintiffs seek $41.1 million in statutory damages, up to $150,000 for each of the 274 works they say were wilfully infringed, NBC News reported, citing the complaint. An Anthropic spokesperson said: "We disagree with the claims and intend to defend this case fully."

NBC News notes that Anthropic previously agreed to a $1.5 billion settlement with authors over pirated books, and The Guardian notes earlier suits against Anthropic by record labels.

## Limits

- We have not read the complaint itself; the allegations and figures here come from NBC News and The Guardian, which agree on the song count and damages.
- The $41.1 million figure is what the plaintiffs are asking for, not an award, and none of the allegations has been tested in court.
- Neither outlet gives the court or case number, so we do not print one.

## Sources

- [NBC News: Elvis Presley's rights holders sue Anthropic, saying it trained AI on his music (October 25, 2026)](https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/elvis-presleys-rights-holders-sue-anthropic-saying-trained-ai-music-rcna605551)
- [The Guardian: Anthropic sued for allegedly using 274 Elvis Presley songs to train AI models (October 25, 2026)](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/25/elvis-presley-anthropic-lawsuit-ai-models-music)