Major music labels and industry organizations have filed an amicus brief supporting publishers in their copyright battle against AI company Anthropic, arguing that the company's unauthorized use of song lyrics mirrors Napster's past copyright violations.

Universal Music Publishing Group, Concord, and Abkco sued Anthropic in October 2023 for copyright infringement. The lawsuit alleges that Anthropic's AI chatbot Claude was trained on unauthorized song lyrics and can reproduce them when prompted.

Key points of the lawsuit:

• Anthropic allegedly scraped lyrics websites without proper licensing agreements
• Claude can reproduce complete lyrics to copyrighted songs like Katy Perry's "Roar" and Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive"
• The chatbot can generate song lyrics in response to specific prompts, often reproducing substantial portions of existing songs

Anthropic's defense claims:

• Their use of lyrics falls under 'fair use'
• The chatbot shouldn't produce exact copies of lyrics
• Any 1:1 reproduction is a bug, not an intended feature
• They have implemented guardrails to prevent unauthorized reproduction

The RIAA, Artist Rights Alliance, and Music Artists Coalition argue in their amicus brief that:

• Other AI companies have obtained proper licensing deals
• Anthropic's refusal to license content gives them an unfair advantage
• Their 'fair use' defense mirrors arguments used by Napster and Grokster
• Previous copyright enforcement against music piracy led to legitimate streaming services

Publishers are seeking an injunction requiring Anthropic to prevent their AI models from generating copyrighted lyrics and stop using unauthorized lyrics for AI training. The case continues to highlight the growing tension between AI companies and content creators over intellectual property rights.

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