Pirated Songs Uploaded — Lawsuit Against AI Chatbot Next

More and more AI providers are facing accusations of having trained their chatbots using copyrighted media. Here comes the lawsuit train! This time, it involves songs by the Rolling Stones, among others.

In the fight against artificial intelligence, more companies and private individuals are bringing charges against OpenAI, Anthropic, and similar firms. From unauthorized nude images to copyright infringements, AI providers are increasingly committing fraud in training and developing their chatbots. Claude, for instance, is now alleged to have infringed the music copyright of the Rolling Stones and other artists. The plaintiff spoke of hundreds of infringements and insists on injunctive relief and compensation. This could be expensive for Anthropic — and encourage other players to take legal action against the AI providers.

AI Chatbot Claude Hit With Lawsuit

Music rights administrator BMG Rights Management (part of the German Bertelsmann Group) filed charges against AI company Anthropic in a California federal court on Tuesday (March 17). The allegation? Anthropic allegedly fed its AI chatbot Claude with copyrighted song lyrics to train it.

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The indictment refers to “extensive copyright infringement of copyrighted musical compositions owned or controlled by BMG”. These included songs by the world-famous Rolling Stones. Claude allegedly copied, reproduced, and in some cases, modified these songs online without permission. The result? Committing hundreds of copyright infringements.

This Could Be an Expensive Affair

“To first develop or ‘train’ its Claude models, Anthropic copied an enormous volume of text from sources on the Internet through several means,” read the indictment. The chatbot is said to have used automated scraping tools to download files from illegal online pirate libraries. “Compounding its unlawful conduct, Anthropic also uploaded to the Internet and shared with the public additional copies of these pirated works through torrenting.”

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BMG has thus made it clear: “Upon information and belief, this enormous collection of data downloaded and reshared by Anthropic includes unauthorized copies of BMG’s copyrighted musical compositions.” BMG also accused Anthropic of “aiding and abetting copyright infringement”. Anthropic should also be liable for the resulting infringing acts of its licensees and users.

BMG’s claim is for injunctive relief and restitution. Under current US law, statutory damages are up to $150,000 per infringed work, provided the infringement was willful.

Numerous Copyright Infringement Cases Involving AI

The current case is preceded by numerous other proceedings. AI training with copyrighted works without permission is not an isolated incident. As recently as March, the online encyclopaedia Britannica sued ChatGPT’s developer, Open AI. Several US record labels such as Universal filed a lawsuit against Anthropic in 2023 and signed a court settlement in 2025. As a result, the company’s AI models were no longer allowed to use copyrighted song lyrics or reproduce them in a modified manner. However, there was no agreement on AI training at the time.