Canadian publishers sue Anthropic over use of their content

The publishers say Anthropic infringed their copyright by using their content to develop Claude, and allege the company scraped large amounts of text from the internet and their websites.[2][1] They also allege Anthropic uses content without authorization or consent and continues scraping in response to user prompts.[2] The claim says the conduct occurred without a valid licence from any News Media Company.[1] These are allegations in a lawsuit, not findings by a court.[2] For teams assessing AI content sourcing, the filing highlights the questions publishers are raising about permission and the use of their material.

The publishers allege Anthropic breached the terms of service on their websites and circumvented technological measures intended to restrict copying.[1] The claim also alleges Anthropic was unjustly enriched to the publishers’ detriment.[1] It says Anthropic capitalized on the commercial success of its models, built an expansive suite of services and raised significant capital.[1] The publishers’ statement of claim says Anthropic has done nothing to curtail the alleged unlawful behaviour.[2] These points describe the plaintiffs’ case; the evidence does not establish that a court has accepted them.

CBC reports that the lawsuit was filed on October 6, without specifying a year in the evidence available here.[2] Anthropic had not responded to a request for comment, according to CBC.[2] The allegations against the company have not been proven in court.[2] Cartt.ca was the first to report the lawsuit, CBC says.[2] For legal and compliance teams, that distinction matters: the filing sets out what the publishers allege, but it does not resolve whether Anthropic’s conduct violated copyright, website terms or other rules.

The same publishers, together with CBC/Radio-Canada, sued OpenAI in 2024, and that case remains unsettled.[3] News publishers have also urged the federal government to take a position on AI systems’ use of copyrighted content.[3] The government’s national AI strategy did not address that issue.[3] The Anthropic lawsuit adds another dispute to this unsettled policy and legal landscape. For organizations building or procuring AI systems, it is a reason to track how courts and policymakers address the use of copyrighted material, while avoiding assumptions about how this case will be decided.