All shook up: Elvis Presley's estate sues Anthropic right as investors get their first look at the company's IPO filing
As investors begin to study Anthropic's filing, which is more than 400 pages long, the company is moving closer to its major initial public offering (IPO). But the estate of Elvis Presley is focused on a different issue: how the AI company used the rock and roll star's music. The people managing Presley's estate have serious concerns about the company's actions.
The Presley estate is suing Anthropic for $41 million. It accuses the company of using Presley's music to train its AI models without getting the required permission. Anthropic denies the copyright infringement claims.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. It claims Anthropic violated copyright rules involving 274 Presley songs, including some of his biggest hits, such as “Can't Help Falling in Love” and “All Shook Up.” The lawsuit also accuses Anthropic of getting around certain protections designed to safeguard the music.
A familiar tune
The accusations against Anthropic may sound familiar to people who follow the company. Earlier this month, music company Reservoir sued the AI company. Reservoir claims Anthropic took copyrighted song lyrics by artists including Joni Mitchell, Madonna and Evanescence to train its AI models.
In January, United Music Group sued Anthropic for $3 billion, claiming the company had built a collection of “pirated” songs. Anthropic has asked a judge to decide that its use of the songs was allowed under fair use rules.
In its legal filing, the Presley estate wrote: “Anthropic has admitted in public statements and in other litigations to widespread copying of copyrighted materials for use in the training of its ‘artificial intelligence’ (’AI’) models.” The estate also accused the company of ignoring the rights of the people who own Elvis's works by making copies without permission, removing copyright management information (CMI), and training its AI models to ignore that information in both their training and their outputs. It claims these actions were meant to hide copyright violations.
Uncomfortable timing
The Elvis lawsuit was filed just before Anthropic made its S-1 filing public through the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company's IPO is expected to value it at $2 trillion, which would make it the largest IPO ever.
However, the filing itself contains several concerns. Nearly one-quarter of the documents discuss risks linked to the IPO. Anthropic must also address the public debate over whether AI could pose serious risks to humanity.
The company warns that AI models, including its own, have shown unexpected behavior and may do so again in the future. These behaviors could include trying to avoid being shut down, hiding or changing information, or producing responses that seem threatening, dishonest or manipulative. The company says this could include behavior resembling blackmail or attempts to influence people making decisions so that the model can keep running or retain access.
Anthropic also revealed that it had a net loss of $80.75 billion in the first half of 2026. However, the company said the loss was not caused by problems related to debt or computing resources. Instead, as the company's value rose during the year, it faced large accounting charges, which led to the reported loss.
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