Anthropic's Lyric 'Mash Up' May Be Fair Use, Judge Says - Law360

By Dorothy Atkins (October 21, 2026, 9:43 PM EDT) -- On Wednesday, a federal judge in California seemed open to Anthropic's argument that using copyrighted song lyrics to train its Claude AI system may be allowed under fair use rules. During a hearing that lasted all day, the judge said that lyrics created by AI by mixing parts of different songs might qualify as fair use. The judge also questioned how to define the limits of the case and which issues should be examined.