It’s good news this morning for the artificial intelligence company Anthropic after a federal judge in California denied a preliminary request to prevent the use of lyrics owned by Universal Music Group (UMGNF). In 2023, Universal Music, Concord, and ABKCO filed a lawsuit against Anthropic, claiming that it used copyrighted song lyrics without permission to train its AI chatbot, Claude. The publishers say Anthropic included lyrics from at least 500 popular songs, including music by artists like Beyoncé, The Rolling Stones, and The Beach Boys, without paying for the rights.
The publishers argued that this use of lyrics hurt their ability to license their content in the future and asked the court to block Anthropic from continuing to use the lyrics in its AI systems while the case moved forward.
The Court’s Decision
Today, a California federal judge ruled against that request. U.S. District Judge Eumi Lee said the publishers’ request was too broad and unclear. She also said they had not shown that Anthropic’s actions caused them “irreparable harm.” In her decision, Judge Lee noted that the core legal question of whether using copyrighted content to train AI counts as “fair use” has not been settled yet under U.S. law.
Anthropic welcomed the decision, calling the music publishers’ request “disruptive and vague.” The company has said it has built safeguards to avoid copyright issues and is working to keep copyrighted content out of its responses.
However, this ruling is a temporary win for Anthropic, as the larger lawsuit remains. Nonetheless, it could impact many other AI companies facing similar legal challenges.
Broader Implications
Companies like OpenAI, Meta Platforms (META), Microsoft (MSFT), and Stability AI have also been sued for allegedly using copyrighted material, such as books, news articles, and artwork, without permission to train their AI models. These lawsuits raise questions about whether AI companies can claim “fair use” when training their systems on copyrighted content.
Judge Lee’s decision may influence how other courts approach these cases. Her ruling suggests that judges may be cautious about limiting AI development until the law around fair use and AI is clearer. It also shows that copyright holders will likely need to prove actual financial harm if they want courts to block AI companies early in the legal process.
While Anthropic still faces a legal battle, the recent court decision gives the company and others in the AI industry some breathing room as the courts continue determining how copyright law applies to AI.
Tipranks’ Comparison Tool
Using Tipranks’ comparison tool, we can examine how publicly traded companies that employ chatbots similar to Anthropic’s Claude or ChatGPT perform from a broader perspective.
