Elvis Presley rights holders sue Anthropic over AI training on 274 songs

Elvis Presley’s rights holders sued Anthropic on October 23, 2026, alleging it used 274 copyrighted songs to train AI without permission. The complaint also challenges the protection offered by Claude’s safeguards: the plaintiffs say the chatbot still produces infringing versions of songs when asked to remake them for a modern audience.

A unit of Authentic Brands Group filed the case alongside other entities that own Presley rights. The licensing company largely controls Presley’s intellectual property, including much of his song catalog, trademarks, and rights to his name, image and likeness. Billboard reported the filing on October 24.

The works named in the lawsuit include “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” “Don’t Be Cruel” and “All Shook Up.” The complaint also identifies “A Little Less Conversation,” “Return to Sender” and “(You’re The) Devil in Disguise,” placing several of Presley’s best-known songs at the center of the dispute.

The challenge extends to rewritten songs

The plaintiffs’ argument connects what allegedly went into Anthropic’s models with what users can get out. They accuse the company of using protected music without authorization to develop technology that produces “unlicensed derivative works”—new versions based on the copyrighted songs, rather than only exact copies of them.

According to complaint passages quoted by Rolling Stone, Claude continued producing infringing material even after Anthropic introduced safeguards following earlier litigation. The plaintiffs describe asking a recent version of Claude to recreate specific songs “for a modern audience.” They say it generated the requested versions and then characterized its own output this way:

That is the plaintiffs’ account of a chatbot exchange, not an admission by Anthropic or a court finding. Its significance to their argument is the claimed preservation of song structure and hooks despite changed wording. The complaint challenges those rewritten outputs, not just the alleged use of songs during training.

A roughly $41 million demand

The lawsuit, identified as ABE EPE LLC v. Anthropic, seeks $150,000 for each allegedly infringed track, or roughly $41 million across the 274 songs. That figure is the plaintiffs’ requested recovery, not an amount awarded by a court.

Lead attorney Richard Busch frames the action as enforcement of the owners’ exclusive rights. In the complaint, he calls the plaintiffs “deeply protective of these iconic songs” and accuses Anthropic of building its business on copyright infringement. That sweeping characterization is the plaintiffs’ position, rather than an established finding about the company.

Fair use is the contested defense

AI companies argue that training on existing copyrighted works is protected by fair use, a copyright defense. Billboard describes that question as still contested across dozens of lawsuits, with billions of dollars in potential damages at stake. The Presley complaint joins that dispute while also challenging the material generated after training.

Anthropic already faces copyright cases from music publishers and other creative industries; Billboard describes the new complaint as largely following those earlier claims. An Anthropic representative had not immediately responded to Billboard’s request for comment when its October 24 article was published.