Universal Music, Concord, ABKCO Music & Records and others sued the AI startup company Anthropic in a Tennessee Federal Court on Wednesday (18 October) in relation to an alleged "systematic and widespread infringement of their copyrighted song lyrics".
The lawsuit provides various examples of Anthropic's AI chatbot Claude generating and publishing either identical or near-identical copies of the lyrics to a number of famous songs, including Katy Perry's "Roar" and "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor.
In addition to reproducing copies of lyrics when asked, it is also alleged that Claude responded to a request to "write a piece of short fiction in the style of Louis Armstrong" with the lyrics of his song, "What a Wonderful World". When asked to "write a song about moving to Bel-Air from Philadelphia", it is alleged that Claude almost identically reproduced the lyrics to "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air".
Whilst Universal and other music companies license their lyrics to platforms such as Genius for reproduction online, they argue that simply because the material can be found online, it is not "free for the taking".
Universal and the other plaintiffs in the case are seeking relief for direct copyright infringement, contributory infringement, vicarious infringement, and the removal or alteration of copyright management information. They are seeking up to $150,000 per infringed work according to Rolling Stone.
AI has been a hot topic in the music industry this year particularly following the rise of "deepfakes" online in which AI technology has mimicked the voices and lyrics of popular artists such as Drake and The Weeknd. If these allegations are proven, it would seem that Claude is another example where AI is infringing IP rights and harming IP owners and creators, which surely supports the argument that this technology still needs human intervention and monitoring to avoid the risk of falling on the wrong side of the law.
"It is well established by copyright law that an entity cannot reproduce, distribute, and display someone else's copyrighted works to build its own business unless it secures permission from rightsholders. Just like countless other technologies, AI companies must abide by the law" - Matthew J. Oppenheim, Plaintiffs' attorney, in a statement to Rolling Stone
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