Music publishers claim Anthropic’s Claude was trained on, and can reproduce, their song lyrics, with summary judgment on fair use now before the court. A second 2026 suit seeks roughly $3B over 20,000+ compositions allegedly torrented from pirate libraries and names founders Dario Amodei and Benjamin Mann personally.
LATEST DEVELOPMENT · AUG 28, 2026
On August 28, 2026, Sony Music Publishing and Warner Chappell Music filed a further suit against Anthropic, Dario Amodei and Benjamin Mann over the same torrenting allegations. On August 3, 2026, Anthropic moved to partially dismiss the Concord II complaint, seeking to drop the DMCA and output-infringement claims on the ground that plaintiffs never identify an instance of Claude reproducing a lyric, while not contesting the torrenting and training-based claims. Co-founder Dario Amodei separately moved to dismiss the direct infringement claim against him personally. The Concord I summary judgment hearing on fair use remains scheduled for October 21, 2026.
BACKGROUND
Concord, Universal Music Publishing Group entities, ABKCO and other publishers first sued Anthropic in October 2023, alleging Claude was trained on the lyrics of roughly 500 songs, from the Rolling Stones to Beyoncé, and could reproduce them on demand. After transfer to the Northern District of California before Judge Eumi K. Lee, the parties stipulated in January 2025 to output guardrails. In March 2025, the court denied a preliminary injunction against training use while trimming secondary-liability claims with leave to amend, and in October 2025 it denied Anthropic’s renewed motion to dismiss. In March 2026, the parties cross-moved for summary judgment on the core question, the publishers arguing that training a model to serve up lyrics on command is quintessential infringement, Anthropic that it is transformative fair use, with briefing complete and the hearing, reset from July 15, now calendared for October 21, 2026.
Concord II, filed in late January 2026, transplants the playbook from Bartz v. Anthropic (which produced a $1.5B settlement over pirated books): it alleges Anthropic used BitTorrent to download millions of unauthorized copies from Library Genesis and Pirate Library Mirror, sweeping in more than 20,000 musical compositions, and that this was concealed during Concord I discovery. The complaint, described as the largest non-class copyright action in U.S. history at roughly $3B, personally names CEO Dario Amodei as having authorized the conduct and co-founder Benjamin Mann as having carried out the torrenting. Judge Lee denied Anthropic’s motion to stay the case on April 24, 2026, and on August 3 Anthropic moved to dismiss the DMCA and output-infringement claims while leaving the torrenting and training claims unchallenged; Dario Amodei separately moved to dismiss the claim against him personally.
TIMELINE
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AUG 28, 2026FILINGSony Music Publishing and Warner Chappell sue Anthropic, Amodei and Mann over the same torrenting allegations
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AUG 3, 2026FILINGAnthropic and Amodei move to partially dismiss Concord II complaintAnthropic moved to dismiss the DMCA and output-infringement claims in Concord II, arguing the roughly 21,000-work complaint identifies no instance of Claude reproducing a lyric, while not challenging the torrenting and training claims. Dario Amodei filed a separate motion to dismiss the direct infringement claim against him personally.
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JUL 22, 2026FILINGPublishers file Second Amended Complaint in Concord IConcord Music Group, Universal Music Publishing Group and ABKCO Music filed a Second Amended Complaint against Anthropic in the N.D. Cal. case, expanding on the amended complaint first filed in May 2026. The filing, covering roughly 500 songs, relies on internal Anthropic records obtained through discovery to allege the company’s systems were designed to reproduce copyrighted lyrics.
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APR 24, 2026PROCEDURALSummary judgment hearing in Concord I reset from July 15 to October 21, 2026The court reset the hearing on the parties’ cross-motions for partial summary judgment on fair use, originally calendared for July 15, 2026, to October 21, 2026 before Judge Eumi K. Lee.
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APR 24, 2026PROCEDURALStay of Concord II deniedJudge Lee declines to pause the piracy suit pending Concord I. Anthropic’s response due August 3, 2026.
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MAR 30, 2026PROCEDURALMultiple amicus briefs filed on cross-motions for summary judgmentCopyright law professors, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, CCIA and Chamber of Progress/Engine Advocacy filed briefs supporting Anthropic, while the Association of American Publishers, News/Media Alliance, RIAA and NMPA filed briefs supporting the music publishers on the fair use summary judgment motions.
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MAR 23, 2026PROCEDURALCross-motions for summary judgment on fair usePublishers move for partial summary judgment that Anthropic’s copying is not fair use. Anthropic seeks a fair-use ruling. Hearing noticed for July 15, 2026.
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JAN 2026FILINGConcord II filed. Founders named personallyA second suit alleges mass BitTorrent downloading from LibGen and Pirate Library Mirror covering 20,000+ compositions, seeking ~$3B from Anthropic, Dario Amodei and Benjamin Mann.
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OCT 6, 2025PROCEDURALRenewed motion to dismiss deniedThe amended secondary-liability and DMCA claims proceed alongside the direct infringement claims.
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MAR 25, 2025PROCEDURALPreliminary injunction deniedJudge Lee finds the requested injunction overbroad and irreparable harm unshown, and dismisses contributory, vicarious and CMI-removal claims with leave to amend.
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JAN 2025PROCEDURALGuardrails stipulation on lyric outputsAnthropic agrees to maintain output guardrails on current Claude models, narrowing the preliminary-injunction fight to training use.
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JUN 2024PROCEDURALCase transferred to N.D. California
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OCT 18, 2023FILINGPublishers sue Anthropic over Claude’s use of lyricsConcord, UMPG entities and ABKCO file in M.D. Tenn., alleging infringement of roughly 500 compositions in training and output.