Reservoir sues Suno and Anthropic over AI training, seeking damages and deletion of copies

Suno and Anthropic face new demands for damages and the destruction of allegedly unauthorized music copies, including copies retained in model weights. Music publisher Reservoir filed separate federal lawsuits on October 21, 2026, accusing the companies of using its compositions without permission to train their AI systems.

The cases were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Reservoir alleges unauthorized use of 1,050 compositions by Suno and lyrics from 853 compositions by Anthropic. The complaints identify songs including Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire,” Madonna’s “Papa Don’t Preach” and Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi.”

Training data and generated substitutes

The allegations extend from what entered the systems to what users can get out. In the Anthropic case, Reservoir says its lyrics were copied to train Claude, which it alleges can produce copies and derivative works in response to prompts. The publisher says it owns all U.S. copyrights in, or exclusively controls, the compositions listed in that complaint.

Against Suno, Reservoir argues that the service was designed to reach artists’ listeners with AI-generated substitutes, rather than simply help artists make music. Billboard, which obtained the complaints, quoted the publisher alleging that Suno’s platform was “always meant to replace the artists” whose works it says were copied unlawfully.

Reservoir also challenges Suno’s safeguards against artist imitation. Its complaint says a prompt using Reba McEntire’s name was blocked, while one using the misspelling “Reba McIntyre” was accepted. It further alleges that Suno’s v6 model accepts artist-name prompts and redirects them toward descriptions of musical characteristics. Those examples are allegations in the complaint, not findings that the resulting music infringes copyright.

On data collection, the Suno complaint draws on source code obtained by a hacker and reported on by 404 Media in July. Reservoir cites that reporting to allege scraping of songs and lyrics from YouTube Music, Deezer and Genius using Bright Data proxy services. Suno said at the time that the incident primarily involved outdated code no longer in use.

Seeking forgiveness is clearly more profitable than permission, which they obviously could have done but consciously chose not to do.

Reservoir’s complaint against Suno

The demands go beyond a damages check

Music Business Worldwide detailed the financial demands in each complaint. Reservoir seeks actual damages and the defendants’ profits or, alternatively, statutory damages of up to $150,000 per work willfully infringed. The complaints state the following totals for that copyright claim alone:

• Suno: $157.5 million for the 1,050 compositions Reservoir says it owns or exclusively controls.
• Anthropic: $127.95 million for the 853 compositions identified in its complaint.

Both cases also assert claims under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act over alleged circumvention of access controls and removal of copyright management information. Reservoir seeks injunctions and the impoundment or destruction of unauthorized copies in training datasets, internal repositories, model weights and server infrastructure. These are requested remedies, not court orders or damages awards.

Reservoir uses Suno’s licensing agreements with Warner Music Group, BMG and Believe to challenge its position. The complaint argues those deals demonstrate a functioning market for licensing music as training data, rather than erase the publisher’s claims about earlier copying. It rejects fair use as a defense to the conduct it alleges.

Neither Suno nor Anthropic immediately responded to Billboard’s requests for comment on October 22. The new allegations have not been adjudicated.