Elvis Presley music rights holders reportedly filed a copyright lawsuit against Anthropic in federal court in San Francisco on October 23, 2026. They allege that Anthropic used lyrics from 274 Presley compositions to train Claude without permission and that the AI assistant can reproduce or adapt protected lyrics. The reported damages request reaches about $48.6 million when additional claims are included; the copyright-only maximum is $41.1 million.

What the rights holders allege

The plaintiffs allege that lyrics from 274 musical compositions associated with Presley were used without authorization to train Claude. They also allege that Claude can reproduce or closely adapt some of those lyrics. Those claims remain allegations, not findings of infringement.

The reported case concerns lyrics and musical compositions. It is not described as a claim that Anthropic used every Elvis Presley sound recording or cloned his voice.

Anthropic disputes the claims. A company spokesperson said it intends to defend the case fully.

Why reports give two damages figures

The $41.1 million figure is the reported maximum for the copyright claim alone: 274 works multiplied by a reported maximum of $150,000 per work. The broader reported total includes two additional claims under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a U.S. law that addresses matters including digital access controls and copyright-management information.

Reported claim categoryReported maximum amountScope
Copyright infringement$41.1 million274 works at a reported maximum of $150,000 per work
DMCA circumvention$685,000Additional reported maximum
DMCA copyright-management information$6.85 millionAdditional reported maximum
Combined reported maximum$48.635 million, or about $48.6 millionSum of the three reported amounts

The claim-specific figures add up to $48.635 million. These are reported maximum amounts sought by the plaintiffs, not damages awarded by a court.

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