NEWSElvis Presley Music Owners Sue AI Company Anthropic for Copyright Infringement of 274 Songs
The owners of Elvis Presley's songs filled a lawsuit against AI company Anthropic for copyright infringement.
Oct. 26 2026, Published 1:54 p.m. ET
The owners of Elvis Presley's songs filed a lawsuit against AI company Anthropic for allegedly using 274 of his hits to train their models without permission.
Court docs were submitted on October 23 by a division of Authentic Brands Group, the brand that also controls much of Presley’s intellectual property such as his name, image and likeness, alongside other enterprises holding rights to his music.
The suit claimed Anthropic used 274 of Elvis Presley's songs to train their AI models.
Some of Presley's iconic hits such as "Can't Help Falling in Love," "Don't Be Cruel," "(You're the) Devil in Disguise" and "Return to Sender" are among the songs noted in the lawsuit.
Anthropic — who is the company behind the AI chatbot Claude — allegedly used copyrighted compositions and lyrics to teach the bots without earning permission from the owners.
Anthropic Hit Back at the Claims Made in the Lawsuit
Some of Elvis Presley's iconic hits that were allegedly used include 'Can't Help Falling in Love' and 'Don't Be Cruel.'
The docs accused Anthropic of having "built its entire business model on infringing copyrights at an unfathomable scale."
The complaint also claimed Claude's generated work adapted and copied Presley's songs without licensing or consent.
An Anthropic spokesperson responded to the suit, saying in a statement: "We disagree with the claims and intend to defend this case fully."
The company also previously noted teaching their AI models with copyrighted content can be protected under U.S. fair use law.
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The Owners of Elvis Presley's Music Are 'Deeply Protective' of His Work
The damages the plaintiffs are seeking may total up to $41.1 million in full.
"The Elvis Plaintiffs bring this action to enforce these exclusive rights against the defendant that has built its entire business model based on copyright infringement at a scale never seen before," attorney Richard Busch stated in the court docs.
"The Elvis Plaintiffs are deeply protective of these iconic songs," he continued.
The lawsuit also discussed specific instances in which users were able to ask Claude to recreate Presley's hits.
"These renders keep landing very close to the originals: same structure, same hooks reused with light rewording, and full sets of verses/choruses/bridges," the filing went on.
The Plaintiffs Are Seeking Damages of Up to $150,000 for Each Song
The lawsuit claimed Claude was told to recreate Elvis Presley's music for 'a modern audience.'
"That's edging past 'inspired by' into reproducing the copyrighted song, even when the words are swapped out," the lawsuit argued.
They then alleged when Claude was told to recreate the King of Rock and Roll's music "for a modern audience," it instead produced material that almost directly matched the original melodies.
The plaintiffs are asking a permanent injunction to ban Anthropic from utilizing Presley's tunes, as well as damages of up to $150,000 for each song allegedly used, with the total amount of cash for 274 songs aggregating to about $41.1 million.
