Independent music publisher Round Hill Music has sued AI music generator Suno and Anthropic in a California federal court, accusing them of copyright infringement for allegedly scraping hundreds of its songs without permission to train their models. Round Hill, whose catalogue includes over 10,000 compositions such as Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and the Goo Goo Dolls' "Iris", says the unauthorised use breaches the Copyright Act and could result in damages ranging from hundreds of millions of dollars to potentially $1 billion (£790 million).

The lawsuit initially cites 500 songs but is expected to be amended to cover at least 10,000 works. It is the latest in a string of legal actions against the two AI firms by music publishers and labels, following suits from Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group and Sony Music against Suno (which settled with Warner) and BMG's case against Anthropic. Round Hill is seeking a jury trial rather than pursuing a settlement or licensing deal, with its lawyer, Richard Busch, previously known for winning the "Blurred Lines" case, arguing that songwriters have received nothing while the AI companies built multi-billion-dollar valuations on their work. Neither Suno nor Anthropic has responded to requests for comment.