# Elvis rights-holders seek up to $41.1m from Anthropic over AI training claims

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/elvis-rightsholders-sue-anthropic-for-stealing-songs-and-leaving-them-in-heartbreak-hotel/
- Published: 2026-10-27T05:39:18+00:00
- Updated: 2026-10-27T06:17:18+00:00
- Original publisher: The Register
- Original article: https://www.theregister.com/ai-and-ml/2026/10/27/elvis-rightsholders-sue-anthropic-for-stealing-songs-and-leaving-them-in-heartbreak-hotel/5305625
- Topics: AI, Art, Culture, Entertainment, Music, Technology

## Key points

- Elvis rightsholders allege Anthropic used songs without permission.
- The lawsuit covers 274 songs.
- Plaintiffs seek up to $41.1 million in damages.

## Summary

Elvis Presley’s rightsholders have sued Anthropic in a US court, alleging it used copyrighted songs to train its AI models without permission. They also say Anthropic’s Claude chatbot can produce Elvis lyrics when prompted, and that AI-generated material “in the style of” artists can cost rights-holders income.

The plaintiffs control 274 Elvis songs and are seeking damages and a share of Anthropic’s profits, or $150,000 per work, which would amount to $41.1 million. Anthropic has reportedly said it will defend the case; it previously settled a separate copyright dispute with authors by establishing a $1.5 billion compensation fund.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.