Universal Music Publishing Group, Concord Music Group, and ABKCO filed a response to Anthropic's motion to dismiss substantial claims relating to contributory infringement, vicarious liability, and violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
In their view, Anthropic has repeatedly attempted to delay and misrepresent key facts of the case to its advantage. Last month, Anthropic petitioned the U.S. District Court of Northern California to eliminate three of four copyright infringement charges.
However, the publishers counter that Anthropic misapplied previous rulings and that their initial complaint properly demonstrated Anthropic's role in enabling infringement by third-party users of its conversational AI, Claude. Given Claude's widespread availability and usage, it is reasonable to assume typical users may have utilized it to find lyrics in violation of copyright.
The publishers stress Anthropic's commercial interests in copyrighted content, profiting from user requests and responses involving lyrics. They contend the secondary liability claims should stand regardless of whether direct infringement originated from Claude itself or those interacting with it.
Anthropic also stands accused of disregarding procedural rules by filing a second dismissal motion before responding to the allegations. The publishers characterize this as a deliberate delay tactic and see it as improperly prioritizing dismissal over addressing the substance of the case.
In their filing, the music entities strongly reject Anthropic's legal interpretation and portrayal of events. They urge the court to fully deny the dismissal request to ensure the dispute can be fairly adjudicated on its merits.
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The Legal Battle Over Lyrics: Music Industry vs. Anthropic
