3 Count: A New Foe Has Appeared

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1: BMG Sues Anthropic, Entering AI Copyright Battlefield: ‘Egregious Law-Breaking’

First off today, Rachel Scharf at Billboard reports that the music publisher BMG has filed a lawsuit against Anthropic, the company behind the AI chatbot Claude.

According to the lawsuit, Anthropic illegally used the lyrics from a variety of popular songs to train Claude and other AI systems. It claims to have sent a cease-and-desist letter to Anthropic in December, but that the AI company never responded.

The lawsuit further alleges that, in addition to training on copyright-protected lyrics, Claude will repeat those lyrics to users when prompted, furthering the infringement. The lawsuit is the latest in a long line against Anthropic and other AI companies over alleged copyright infringement.

2: Cloudflare Appeals Piracy Shield Fine, Hopes To Kill Italy’s Site-Blocking Law

Next up today, Jon Brodkin at Ars Technica reports that Cloudflare has appealed a fine issued to it by Italy for its failure to comply with the country’s Piracy Shield site-blocking law.

In January, the country’s telecommunications regulator, AGCOM, fined the company 14.2 million euros ($16.4 million) for its failure to block allegedly infringing sites as part of its 1.1.1.1 DNS service. Cloudflare had refused to do so, citing concerns about overblocking and concerns of how it would impact the service.

Cloudflare has now appealed the fine and said that, should it lose, it will likely withdraw services and servers from the country. The company is also hoping that the broader EU will step in and rule that the law is invalid.

3: Organizations Warn Fast-Track of Bill To Separate Copyright Office From Library of Congress Would Be a ‘Grave Mistake’

Finally today, Eileen McDermott at IPWatchdog reports that a coalition of groups have sent a letter to the House Committee on Administration urging it not fast track a bill to remove the US Copyright Office (USCO) from the Library of Congress.

The letter is in response to the Legislative Branch Agencies Clarification Act, which would change the Register of Copyrights position from one appointed by the Librarian of Congress to one directly appointed by the President. The bill has been fast-tracked though the coalition is asking Representatives to consider on a more normal timeline.

The bill follows an ongoing dispute between the Trump administration and the current Register of Copyrights, Shira Perlmutter. The Trump administration attempted to fire her, but a court recently reinstated her, saying the administration lacked the authority.

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