Reservoir Sues Suno and Anthropic Over Alleged Copyright Infringement

Reservoir Media has filed separate lawsuits against AI companies Suno and Anthropic in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, alleging mass copyright infringement.

The Suno allegations:

• Reservoir alleges Suno copied 1,050 compositions whose US copyrights it owns outright or exclusively controls to train its AI models without permission.

• The complaint lists songs such as Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now,” Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire,” Madonna’s “Papa Don’t Preach,” and Evanescence’s “Bring Me to Life.”

• Reservoir is seeking actual damages and Suno’s profits or, alternatively, statutory damages of up to US$157.5 million.

• Two additional claims under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act seek a further US$26.875 million, bringing the total pleaded figures to just over US$186 million.

• The complaint also seeks an injunction and the impoundment or destruction of unauthorized copies of its works, including those held in training datasets and server infrastructure.

The Anthropic suit:

• Reservoir alleges Anthropic copied the lyrics of 853 compositions to train its Claude models without permission, and that Claude generates copies or derivative works in response to prompts.

• Songs named in the complaint include Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” and “Both Sides Now,” Madonna’s “Papa Don’t Preach,” Billy Strayhorn’s “Lush Life,” and Evanescence’s “Bring Me to Life.”

• Reservoir is seeking actual damages and Anthropic’s profits or, alternatively, statutory damages of up to US$127.95 million, alongside $23.46 million across two additional Digital Millennium Copyright Act claims.

• Reservoir is also seeking an injunction and the impoundment or destruction of unauthorized copies of its works.