MediaNama, citing Reuters, reported that Anthropic asked a US federal judge on October 21 to find that training its Claude chatbot on song lyrics is fair use. Judge Eumi Lee heard both sides in San Jose and did not rule. Universal Music Group, Concord and ABKCO sued in 2023. They say Anthropic used lyrics from hundreds of songs, including by Beyoncé, the Rolling Stones and the Beach Boys. Both sides want a decision without a full trial. Anthropic's lawyer said the training creates new, transformed content and does not cut demand for lyrics. The publishers' lawyer said users made nearly 120,000 requests for synthetic lyrics in six months.
No ruling date has been reported. MediaNama says two other judges in the same California district split on AI training in 2025. It also says Anthropic faces similar lyrics suits from Sony Music Publishing and Round Hill Music. In India, the trade department proposed a required licence for AI training in December 2025. It is not law, and MediaNama could not find the promised second part of the paper. Still unclear: how the 120,000 figure was counted, and whether Anthropic licensed any Indian lyrics. Anthropic, the publishers' lawyer and the Indian Music Industry body have not yet replied to MediaNama.
Teams that build or buy AI tools still lack a settled rule on training data. US judges have disagreed, and India's licence plan is only a proposal.