3 Count: Entering the Building

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1: Elvis Presley Catalog Owners Sue AI Company Anthropic for Copyright Infringement

First off, today, Hattie Lindert at Pitchfork reports that Authentic Brands Group (ABG), the company that owns the rights to Elvis Presley’s music library, has filed a lawsuit against Anthropic saying that the AI company illegally used Presley’s music to train AI systems.

According to the lawsuit, this includes some 274 songs for which they seek the maximum damages of $150,000 per work. That totals $41 million in potential damages. The lawsuit alleges that Anthropic used the songs to create unlicensed derivative works based on Presley’s music.

Though similar lawsuits have been filed against AI companies, this is the first time that the owner of a single artist’s music library has filed such a case.

2: Former Eminem Employee Pleads Guilty to Criminal Copyright Infringement

Next up today, Blake Brittain at Reuters reports that a former employee of the rapper Eminem has pleaded guilty to criminal copyright infringement after selling several unreleased songs.

The man, Joseph Strange, faces up to five years in prison for selling the unreleased music in 2024. He was given roughly $50,000 for the songs, and those tracks would go on to be streamed unlawfully millions of times.

Strange left the company in 2021, but still had access to some of the music. He is yet to be sentenced and no one representing Eminem or the companies he is connected to has commented on the case.

3: Hundreds Sue Meta for Copyright Infringement, Rejecting Class Action Payouts

Finally today, Ed Nawotka at Publishers Weekly reports that some 300 authors have filed copyright‑infringement lawsuits against Meta, alleging that it trained their AI models on their books without permission.

The authors have opted not to join a class‑action lawsuit against the company, and, instead, have filed individual claims against Meta. In addition to arguing that Meta infringed their works by training its AI models, the authors also alleged that Meta pirated their works through various “shadow libraries.”

A class‑action lawsuit against Anthropic resulted in authors receiving $3,000 per pirated work. These authors are hoping to receive much more than that and are seeking the maximum damages, $150,000 per work.

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