Elvis owners sue Anthropic over 274 songs

The owners of Elvis Presley's music sued Anthropic on the 23rd of October 2026, NBC News reported. They say the company used 274 Presley songs to train its Claude AI without permission.

They seek 41.1 million dollars, or 150,000 dollars for each song, NBC News reported on the 25th of October 2026. Anthropic said it disagrees and will "defend this case fully".

Who is suing Anthropic

The case is led by Authentic Brands Group, which owns rights to Presley's music and image, The Guardian reported on the 25th of October 2026. Other firms, trusts and people who own rights to the songs joined it, NBC News said.

Songs in the case include Can't Help Falling in Love, All Shook Up and A Little Less Conversation.

What the lawsuit says Claude does

The suit says Claude learned from the songs' words and still writes close copies of them, NBC News reported. Asked to remake songs "for a modern audience", Claude kept the same shape and hooks, the complaint says.

A hook is the catchy line that people remember from a song.

What the owners want from the court

They want a court order that stops Anthropic from using Presley's songs, NBC News reported. They also want every unlicensed copy destroyed.

Below we break down the 41.1 million dollars

US copyright law lets a court award up to 150,000 dollars for each work copied on purpose. 274 songs at 150,000 dollars each come to 41.1 million dollars, by our arithmetic.

Anthropic agreed last year to pay 1.5 billion dollars to settle a case brought by book authors, NBC News reported.

What is confirmed and what is not

The claims are the owners' own and have not been tested in court. Big music publishers, including Universal Music, have also sued Anthropic over song words, NBC News reported.

Key facts

The lawsuit was filed on the 23rd of October 2026.

Authentic Brands Group leads the case.

Can't Help Falling in Love is one of the songs named.

Anthropic said it will fight the case.