backAI company Anthropic scored a procedural win after a California federal judge denied a motion from major music publishers, including Universal Music Group, to block the use of copyrighted lyrics in training its chatbot, Claude. The judge ruled that the publishers’ request was overly broad and failed to prove “irreparable harm.” The lawsuit, filed in 2023, alleges that Anthropic used lyrics from at least 500 songs by artists such as Beyoncé and the Rolling Stones without permission for AI training purposes.
This decision marks an important moment in the broader legal debate over copyright and artificial intelligence. While the ruling did not address whether Anthropic’s actions qualify as fair use under U.S. law, Judge Eumi Lee noted that this will be a key issue in ongoing cases involving OpenAI, Microsoft, and Meta. The publishers said they remain confident in their claims, while Anthropic welcomed the rejection of what it called a “disruptive and amorphous request.
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