Tech Groups Tell Court AI Training on Copyrighted Music Qualifies as Fair Use
Five technology industry groups have urged a California federal judge to rule that Anthropic's use of copyrighted music to train Claude falls under fair use protections. The groups filed arguments in a copyright infringement case now before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
The case centers on whether using copyrighted material to train AI systems constitutes fair use under copyright law. The outcome could shape how AI companies source training data and what legal boundaries apply to model development.
Who Filed Arguments
The Computer & Communications Industry Association, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the Chamber of Progress submitted filings supporting Anthropic's position. The groups argue that AI training represents a transformative use of copyrighted material.
Law professors and publishers also weighed in on the case, though with different perspectives on how fair use doctrine should apply to machine learning.
The Legal Question
Fair use doctrine permits limited use of copyrighted material without permission under specific circumstances. Courts typically consider whether the use is transformative, whether it affects the market for the original work, and the amount of material used.
Anthropic faces claims from music rights holders including Concord Music Group and the Recording Industry Association of America. The company has not publicly detailed which copyrighted works were used in Claude's training.
Judge William Alsup is overseeing the case in the Northern District of California.
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