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Anthropic Wins Early Round in Music Publishers’ AI Copyright Case

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Artificial intelligence company Anthropic has successfully defended itself against a motion to block its use of lyrics owned by Universal Music Group (UMG) and other publishers in training its AI-powered chatbot, Claude. A California federal judge ruled on Tuesday that the publishers’ request for a preliminary injunction was too broad and did not demonstrate that Anthropic’s actions had caused “irreparable harm.”

The Legal Dispute

The music publishers, including UMG, Concord, and ABKCO, filed a lawsuit against Anthropic in 2023, accusing the company of copyright infringement. The suit claims that Anthropic used lyrics from at least 500 songs—by artists such as Beyoncé, the Rolling Stones, and the Beach Boys—without permission to train its chatbot, Claude, which can generate human-like responses to prompts.

In rejecting the motion, U.S. District Judge Eumi Lee stated that the publishers had not shown that Anthropic’s actions had caused the alleged harm, particularly in terms of a potential impact on their licensing market. Judge Lee emphasized that the question of fair use, which remains a key issue in these lawsuits, was not addressed in this specific ruling.

Publishers’ Response and Future Outlook

While the judge’s decision was a setback, the publishers remained confident in their broader case against Anthropic. They expressed that they are “very confident” in their legal position moving forward.

Anthropic also responded positively, with a spokesperson noting their satisfaction that the court rejected the publishers’ “disruptive and amorphous request.”

Industry Context

This case is part of a broader legal trend involving the use of copyrighted material to train AI systems. Several tech companies, including OpenAI, Microsoft, and Meta Platforms, have faced similar lawsuits, with defendants arguing that their AI systems’ use of copyrighted works falls under “fair use” provisions of U.S. copyright law, which permits the study of materials to create new, transformative content.

While the legal questions around fair use will likely determine the outcome of these lawsuits, this particular ruling focused on the immediate request for an injunction, not the broader issue of copyright infringement.

Brave Software Sues News Corp Over Copyright Dispute

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In a significant legal battle, Brave Software has filed a lawsuit against News Corp in response to a cease-and-desist letter sent by the media conglomerate. The letter warned Brave that it faced potential litigation for allegedly “scraping” copyrighted content from News Corp’s websites, including those of The Wall Street Journal and New York Post. The suit was filed on Wednesday night in San Francisco federal court.

Brave, the company behind the Brave Search engine, argues that its actions are covered under the “fair use” doctrine, asserting that indexing website content is a necessary practice for search engines to operate. The company also contends that News Corp’s actions could undermine advancements in generative AI, claiming that chatbots such as ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini rely on search engine responses, which could be impacted by this dispute.

According to Brave, its market share is a fraction of the search industry, with its search engine holding less than 1% of the market, while Google dominates with nearly 90%, followed by Microsoft’s Bing. Brave accuses News Corp and its partners of attempting to “bully” the company and further cementing the already high barriers to entry in the search engine market.

In a public statement, Robert Thomson, CEO of News Corp, rejected Brave’s claims, labeling the company’s actions as “piratical, parasitical practices” disguised as traditional search. He emphasized that the unauthorized use and sale of News Corp’s copyrighted content to AI engines and other clients is not fair use, but a blatant violation of intellectual property rights.

This legal battle adds to the growing tensions between publishers and tech companies over the use of copyrighted content in support of AI technologies. News Corp has previously filed lawsuits against other companies, including Perplexity AI, for alleged unauthorized copying of its articles.

In its lawsuit, Brave is seeking a declaration from the court that its use of copyrighted News Corp content for search indexing purposes is not a form of infringement. The case highlights the broader conflict between content creators, who argue for protection of their intellectual property, and technology companies, which push for more access to such content to power AI developments.