Judge reconsiders ruling in Anthropic copyright lawsuit
Judge seeks more arguments in music publishers' AI copyright suit against Anthropic.
Pages from the Anthropic website and the company's logos are displayed on a computer screen in New York on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026 (AP Photo/Patrick Sison)
U.S. District Judge Eumi Lee has requested additional briefings in a copyright infringement lawsuit brought by a group of music publishers against artificial intelligence company Anthropic. The court is reevaluating a tentative ruling that would have denied the defendant's motion to dismiss the case.
During a hearing on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, Judge Lee expressed concerns regarding the sufficiency of the plaintiffs' allegations. The publishers, which include Universal Music Group, Concord, and ABKCO, claim that Anthropic used copyrighted lyrics without permission to train its AI model, Claude. A central point of contention involves the allegation that 20,517 works were copied via torrenting.
Addressing the specific figure of 20,517 works, Judge Lee noted that the number appeared oddly specific without a clear basis, adding that she could not rely solely on information and belief. Sonal Mehta, lead counsel for Anthropic, argued that the heart of the issue remains the inadequacy of the plaintiffs' allegations.
In a separate action during the same hearing, Judge Lee dismissed a direct copyright infringement claim against Anthropic co-founder Dario Amodei with leave to amend. The court has ordered both parties to file a joint status report by Nov. 11, 2026, to outline how to proceed with a separate partial motion.