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Amodei is named again, and has already moved to dismiss

Dario Amodei and Benjamin Mann are named as individual defendants in a copyright suit filed August 28 by Sony Music Publishing and Warner Chappell Music. It is not the first filing to name them, and Amodei is already contesting the personal claim in an earlier case.

Chandni Melwani

Chandni Melwani

Founder & Editor

Aug 29, 2026 · 2 MIN READ

Rows of vinyl records standing upright in a browsing crate, photographed from a slightly elevated angle Photo: Danny Greenberg / Unsplash

The News

Sony Music Publishing and Warner Chappell Music filed a copyright infringement complaint against Anthropic PBC, CEO Dario Amodei, and co-founder Benjamin Mann in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on August 28, 2026. It is the fifth major music-publisher action against Anthropic. Plaintiffs seek up to $150,000 per infringed work and up to $25,000 per instance of removed copyright management information. The complaint characterises the alleged conduct as 'one of the largest and most blatant ongoing thefts of intellectual property in history.' Anthropic has said it 'disagrees' with the claims and intends to 'defend ourselves robustly in court.'

Know More

  • — Defendants named: Anthropic PBC, Dario Amodei (CEO and co-founder), Benjamin Mann (co-founder). This is not the first complaint to name them personally (the second Concord/UMG/ABKCO action, filed January 28, 2026 and amended April 6, 2026, names all three).
  • — Amodei is already fighting the theory. On August 3, 2026 his lawyers moved to dismiss the direct-infringement count against him in that earlier case, arguing the complaint 'asserts zero facts of any unlawful copying by Dr. Amodei himself.' A hearing is set for November 4 before Judge Eumi K. Lee in San Jose.
  • — Damages sought: up to $150,000 per infringed work; up to $25,000 per removal of copyright management information. The complaint alleges 'tens of thousands' of works (plaintiffs' own characterisation, not a court-confirmed count).
  • — Piracy allegations: the complaint alleges Mann downloaded more than 5 million pirated books from Library Genesis in June 2021, and that Anthropic employees downloaded at least 2 million more from Pirate Library Mirror in July 2022.
  • — Songs the complaint cites as examples: 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough,' 'All I Want for Christmas Is You,' 'Eye of the Tiger,' 'Here Comes Santa Claus,' 'Hallelujah,' 'Livin' On a Prayer,' 'Paper Rings,' 'September,' 'Uptown Funk.'
  • — Prior actions: Bartz v. Anthropic settled for $1.5 billion and received final approval July 20, 2026; Concord/UMG/ABKCO filed in Nashville October 18, 2023 over roughly 499 compositions; a second Concord action filed January 28, 2026 and amended April 6, 2026, covering 21,231 works and seeking about $3 billion; BMG filed March 17, 2026 over 493 compositions; Round Hill Music filed August 17, 2026.

Sony Music Publishing and Warner Chappell Music named Dario Amodei and co-founder Benjamin Mann as individual defendants in a copyright suit filed August 28 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The publishers have been naming Anthropic’s founders personally since January, and Amodei has already started fighting back.

The second Concord, UMG and ABKCO action, filed January 28 and amended on April 6, names Anthropic PBC, Amodei and Mann as defendants and covers 21,231 works. On August 3, Amodei’s lawyers moved to dismiss the direct-infringement count against him in that case, arguing the complaint “asserts zero facts of any unlawful copying by Dr. Amodei himself” and that whatever the allegations describe, it amounts to copying by other people, which is contributory infringement at most. Judge Eumi K. Lee hears it November 4 in San Jose.

Sony and Warner’s complaint sets out a specific factual basis for the personal claims. Mann allegedly downloaded more than 5 million pirated books from Library Genesis in June 2021; Anthropic employees followed with at least 2 million more from Pirate Library Mirror in July 2022. Songs the publishers say Claude can reproduce verbatim include “Eye of the Tiger,” “Livin’ On a Prayer,” and “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” The suit seeks up to $150,000 per infringed work and up to $25,000 for each instance of removed copyright management information. The publishers describe the alleged conduct as “one of the largest and most blatant ongoing thefts of intellectual property in history.” Anthropic said it disagrees and will “defend ourselves robustly in court.”

Nothing here has been adjudicated, and every damages figure in circulation is a statutory maximum or a plaintiff’s own count. Judge Lee’s November 4 ruling on whether a CEO can be held directly liable for what his company torrented will carry across all five complaints, including the one filed on August 28.

Related

The complaint asserts zero facts of any unlawful copying by Dr. Amodei himself.

Dario Amodei's motion to dismiss the direct-infringement claim against him, filed August 3, 2026

#Anthropic#Copyright#Litigation#Music Industry#Training Data

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this the first time Anthropic's founders have been sued personally?

No. The second Concord/UMG/ABKCO action, filed January 28, 2026 in the Northern District of California and amended on April 6, 2026, names Anthropic PBC, Dario Amodei and Benjamin Mann as defendants. Reporting indicates BMG's March 17, 2026 complaint does the same. Sony and Warner Chappell's filing shows the largest publishers have adopted the same approach.

How is Amodei responding to being named individually?

In the January case, his lawyers filed a separate motion on August 3, 2026 seeking dismissal of the direct-infringement count against him. The argument is that the allegations describe copying by others and therefore sound in contributory infringement at most, not direct infringement by him. Judge Eumi K. Lee has set a hearing for November 4 in San Jose.

Has anything been adjudicated yet?

No. Every figure cited in coverage of this suit and in the prior music-publisher actions represents allegations or statutory-damage maximums, not amounts a court has awarded. Anthropic has not admitted any wrongdoing and has stated it will contest the claims. The $1.5 billion Bartz settlement resolved an authors' lawsuit over the same torrenting conduct alleged here, but it is a separate proceeding and its terms are not binding on the music-publisher cases.

Sources

Chandni Melwani

Chandni Melwani

Chandni Melwani is the founder and editor of New in AI, covering AI agents, M&A, and enterprise adoption. She holds a Master's in Management of Artificial Intelligence from Queen's University and brings a practitioner's perspective from her work in Data and AI leadership.

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