Suno and Anthropic Face Nearly $340 Million in Copyright Claims Over Songs by Madonna, Johnny Cash

Music publisher Reservoir is pursuing nearly $340 million in potential statutory damages from AI companies Suno and Anthropic, accusing them of illegally copying copyrighted music associated with Madonna, Johnny Cash, and Joni Mitchell to train their artificial intelligence systems.

The two lawsuits, filed October 21, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, identify 1,050 musical compositions allegedly used by Suno and lyrics from 853 compositions allegedly used by Anthropic, the company behind the Claude chatbot. Reservoir claims both companies infringed copyrights and violated federal protections governing access to and identification of copyrighted material.

The complaints seek approximately $186.4 million from Suno and $151.4 million from Anthropic in combined statutory damages, calculated using the maximum penalties available for the alleged violations. Those amounts would require Reservoir to establish liability and persuade the court to award the applicable maximum damages. The publisher also seeks court orders restricting further infringement and requiring the removal or destruction of unauthorized copies.

Among the works identified are Madonna's "Papa Don't Preach," Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" and Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now." Reservoir and its affiliated publishers claim rights in the compositions, which are distinct from the sound recordings associated with the performers.

The Suno lawsuit alleges that the AI music generator copied protected works from online music platforms and other sources to develop a service capable of producing complete songs in response to user prompts. Reservoir contends the company built a commercial product using music it had neither licensed nor obtained permission to reproduce.

According to the complaint, Suno's training practices included scraping material from services such as YouTube Music and other digital platforms. The publisher cites information about the company's data collection methods and argues that the recordings and compositions were incorporated into training datasets without compensating copyright holders.

Reservoir also accuses Suno of developing technology that competes with the musicians and songwriters whose work allegedly helped train it. The complaint argues that the company sought to attract listeners with AI-generated substitutes while avoiding the licensing costs ordinarily associated with using copyrighted music.

The separate case against Anthropic focuses on protected song lyrics allegedly copied to train Claude, a general-purpose AI assistant. Reservoir claims the company obtained lyrics without authorization and that its models can reproduce substantial portions of copyrighted songs in response to user requests.

Both complaints include claims under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, alleging that the defendants circumvented technological restrictions designed to control access to protected material and removed or altered copyright management information, such as songwriter credits and publisher identifications.

The federal law provides remedies for certain violations involving technological access controls and information identifying copyright owners. Those claims account for a portion of the damages Reservoir is pursuing beyond the amounts sought for alleged copyright infringement.

Anthropic disputes the allegations and has said it intends to defend the lawsuit vigorously. Suno has previously argued that training AI systems on copyrighted material can qualify as fair use, a legal doctrine permitting certain uses of protected works without permission depending on their purpose, nature, amount and effect on the market.

The dispute comes as Suno faces additional litigation from major record labels and independent publishers. Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment have continued pursuing infringement claims against the company, including allegations concerning newer versions of its AI music-generation technology.

In an October 20 filing in separate litigation brought by Universal and Sony, Suno acknowledged that it had retained some sound recordings used to train its models. The company argued that retaining those materials was consistent with the labels' earlier requests to preserve training datasets during the litigation.

Suno has also entered licensing agreements with Warner Music Group, BMG and Believe. Reservoir points to those arrangements as evidence that a commercial market exists for licensing copyrighted works for AI training, challenging the company's position that its earlier use of protected material was legally permissible.

Reservoir's attorney, Richard Busch, accuses Suno of pursuing a strategy of copying music first and negotiating licenses after establishing its market position. The complaint portrays the company's recent licensing efforts as a change in approach following mounting legal challenges.

Reservoir founder and CEO Golnar Khosrowshahi said the company supports technological development but intends to protect the rights of its songwriters, artists and publishing partners when their works are allegedly used without authorization.

The broader legal dispute over AI training continues to unfold in federal courts. On October 21, Anthropic and several major music publishers presented arguments in a separate copyright case concerning Claude's use of protected song lyrics. The judge heard competing arguments over fair use and the potential effect of AI-generated material on licensing markets but did not issue a ruling.