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On October 23, owners of Elvis song rights sued Anthropic in California federal court over lyrics to songs recorded by Elvis Presley. They allege Anthropic copied lyrics without a license to train its AI models and stripped titles and credits during data cleaning. No court has decided any claim.
Eminem's former employee Joseph Strange pleaded guilty to criminal copyright infringement on October 22 in federal court in the Eastern District of Michigan. The Justice Department says he copied and sold unreleased music for about $50,000 without authorization. The court has not decided whether to accept the plea agreement, and no sentence has been imposed.
Reservoir Media Management and two other music publishers sued Anthropic on October 21 in federal court in the Northern District of California. They allege Anthropic copied the lyrics of 853 compositions to train its AI model without a license or payment. Anthropic has not responded in court, and no court has decided the claims.
Matthew Michael Hobbs, the creator behind Puppy Songs, sued Kroger in California federal court over an allegedly unlicensed TikTok video featuring Cheese Tax. The October 19 complaint asserts separate copyright claims for the sound recording and the underlying composition. Hobbs alleges that the song was never available in TikTok's Commercial Music Library.
The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment in songwriter Cyril Vetter's copyright dispute because it lacked a quorum, not after a decision on the merits. The October 19 order leaves intact a Fifth Circuit ruling recognizing the recovery of worldwide rights in Double Shot (Of My Baby's Love) following termination of an earlier grant.
Songwriter Aviel Calev Hirschfield sued Drake, OVO Sound and two Universal Music entities in Los Angeles federal court on October 16, alleging that Janice STFU copied the chorus of a demo he sent to producers working with Drake. Hirschfield claims the released track reproduces his lyrics, melody and cadence without credit or compensation. Drake's representatives deny the allegations and say he wrote the song. The complaint seeks damages and profits attributable to the alleged infringement.
Dua Lipa asked a Los Angeles federal judge to reject Samsung's motion to dismiss claims over her photograph on television packaging. In an October 15 opposition, she argues that the image could suggest an endorsement and that California law protects against its alleged commercial use without consent. Samsung maintains that the packaging depicted available entertainment content rather than a paid partnership. The dismissal motion remains pending.
Pharrell Williams and Talamasca asked a Los Angeles federal court to dismiss Chad Hugo's copyright claims in the dispute between the longtime Neptunes collaborators. Their October 6 motion argues that Hugo's second amended complaint does not adequately identify the works he claims to co-own or distinguish rights in musical compositions from rights in sound recordings. The filing seeks dismissal of the federal claims and, if they fall, dismissal without prejudice of the remaining state-law claims.
Thomas Rhett and HYBE America's Blue Highway Records announced Fifty-One/Forty-Nine Records, an artist-led label that will serve as the home for his recorded music. Rhett said the partnership gives him the opportunity to own his body of work while retaining support for future recordings. The announcement did not disclose financial terms, the label's ownership structure, or whether the arrangement includes his earlier catalog.
Mattie Music Group, the publisher of Bill Withers' catalog, filed a federal copyright lawsuit over Olivia Dean's I've Seen It. The complaint alleges that the song copies protected melody from Just the Two of Us and names Capitol Records, Universal Music Group, Sony, and Kobalt entities as defendants. Dean and her co-writers are not defendants.
Universal Music Group companies sued DistroKid in Delaware federal court, alleging that the distributor continued placing infringing recordings on streaming services and misrepresented its approach to artificial intelligence content and fraud.
A California federal judge dismissed Wixen Music Publishing's direct and contributory copyright claims against Meta after finding that Wixen had not adequately alleged its ownership or exclusive rights in the 681 works at issue.
Melissa Mais filed a Virginia federal lawsuit against dancehall artist Masicka, whose legal name is Javaun Nicholas Fearon, alleging that she wrote material connected to four of his songs and that her work was used without permission or compensation.
Jason Isbell, David Lowery, Guy Forsyth, and Eduardo Calle filed a proposed class action accusing Suno of using musicians' identifying characteristics in its artificial intelligence music system without consent.
C+C Music Factory co-founder Robert Clivilles sued performer Freedom Williams and Big Mac Entertainment over ownership and use of the group's name, seeking cancellation of Williams' registration and up to $30 million in damages.