Sony Music Publishing and Warner Chappell sued Anthropic, CEO Dario Amodei, and co-founder Benjamin Mann in the Northern District of California on Friday, August 28. They ask for up to $150,000 per willfully infringed work and up to $25,000 per alleged copyright-management-information strip. That is the statutory ask, not a verdict. Anthropic told TechCrunch and Axios it disagrees and will defend itself in court.
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Filed Friday, August 28 in the Northern District of California against Anthropic, Dario Amodei, and Benjamin Mann. Anthropic: we disagree with the publishers' claims and we intend to defend ourselves robustly in court. Same counsel ecosystem as Concord/UMG and Bartz. $150,000 per work is the statutory ask, not a verdict.
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Complaint obtained by MBW. Jury demand. Up to $150,000 per willfully infringed work plus up to $25,000 CMI. With Sony and Warner filing, all three major publishing arms are litigating Claude training. UMG/Concord already in. Bartz $1.5 billion is cited as prior settlement echo.
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Broad filing versus BMG's 493-work set. Anthropic repeats the same defense statement. Founders named personally. Tens of thousands of works alleged. Not a booked liability.
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X report that Sony Music and Warner Music sued Anthropic, Dario Amodei, and Benjamin Mann over mass copyright theft of musical compositions, citing the Bartz $1.5 billion settlement.
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Thread on the MBW scoop. u/JeremyMarti: it is just the cost of doing business. u/DisastrousChapter841: the final number would have to be astronomically high to do some good. u/zorecknor: unless they prove torrenting of pirated music there is no case.
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Seven-minute explainer of Sony and Warner Chapel suing Anthropic in Northern California on Friday, August 28, joined by affiliated publishers. Statutory ask up to $150,000 per willfully infringed work plus up to $25,000 for stripped copyright notice. Bartz $1.5 billion is prior settlement, not this verdict.