Federal Court Dismisses Music Publishers’ Lawsuit Against Anthropic
A federal court has recently declined the request of three prominent music publishers—Universal Music Group, Concord Music Group, and ABKCO—to prohibit Anthropic from using their song lyrics for training its artificial intelligence (AI) system, which receives backing from Amazon.
Court’s Rationale on the Case
U.S. District Judge Eumi Lee ruled that the plaintiffs failed to provide adequate evidence demonstrating that Anthropic’s practices were undermining the current licensing market for their lyrical content. Judge Lee raised concerns about the practicality of enforcing a court order that would require Anthropic to reconfigure its training models, citing the vast and continually growing number of works involved in the lawsuit.
If granted, the requested injunction would have affected hundreds of thousands of songs owned by the publishers, posing significant challenges for both compliance and enforcement.
Music Publishers’ Response
In response to the ruling, Universal Music Group expressed optimism about their ongoing case against Anthropic. The organization highlighted that Anthropic had already acknowledged certain merits of their claims regarding infringements by entering into a stipulation that obliges the company to implement “guardrails” to avoid infringing outputs. This agreement resolved a crucial element of the motion in favor of the publishers.
Details of the Allegations
The lawsuit, initiated in 2023 in a federal court in Tennessee, accuses Anthropic of using lyrics from notable artists like Katy Perry, the Rolling Stones, and Beyoncé to enhance its AI models. In instances like a query about Perry’s hit “Roar,”the AI chatbot Claude reportedly returned almost identical wording to the original song.
The publishers were seeking a wide-ranging injunction that would prevent Anthropic from utilizing their lyrics in any future AI training initiatives.
Concerns Over the Scope of Injunction
During the ruling, Judge Lee emphasized the uncertainties involved in the proposed injunction, referring to the “unknowable universe of songs”it would encompass. She remarked that the court lacked the authority to impose such an extensive order without clear parameters.
“Publishers did not offer a concrete or definitive way for Anthropic – as the party subject to the injunction and the legal repercussions of a violation – to ascertain its parameters or comply with its terms,” Lee wrote.
Anthropic maintained that excluding an unspecified amount of content from its training library would be “virtually impossible,” necessitating continual updates and resets of its training processes.
Recent Developments
Earlier in the year, Anthropic and the music publishers reached an agreement aimed at preserving existing measures that restrict Claude from providing lyrics or generating new content based on the copyrighted materials owned by the publishers.
Stay tuned for further updates on this ongoing legal matter.