A coalition of music publishers led by Concord Music Group and Universal Music Group has sued AI firm Anthropic, alleging that the company illegally downloaded more than 20,000 copyrighted songs—including sheet music, lyrics, and compositions—and used them to train its Claude chatbot. The publishers claim the unauthorized use could result in damages exceeding $3 billion, making the case one of the largest non‑class action copyright suits in U.S. history. The lawsuit references a prior case, Bartz v. Anthropic, which resulted in a $1.5 billion award for writers, and it highlights the legal distinction between lawful training and unlawful acquisition of copyrighted material. Read more →