By Blake Brittain
July 21 (Reuters) – A nonprofit that licenses the University of Tennessee’s intellectual property has sued artificial-intelligence giant Anthropic in Delaware federal court for allegedly infringing its patents related to neural networks.
The University of Tennessee Research Foundation’s complaint, filed on Monday and made public on Tuesday, said that Anthropic’s AI systems violate its patents on machine-learning technology inspired by neuroscience.
The lawsuit is thought to be the first patent infringement case against Anthropic. A California federal judge on Monday approved the company’s landmark $1.5 billion settlement of a class action copyright lawsuit brought by a group of authors over its use of their work to train AI.
“Anthropic’s cavalier approach to others’ intellectual property rights in the development of its products extends beyond the use of copyrighted material,” the foundation said in its complaint.
“We disagree with the allegations and intend to defend this case vigorously,” an Anthropic spokesperson said in response to the lawsuit.
Spokespeople for the foundation did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.
The Knoxville, Tennessee, organization argued that Anthropic’s systems infringe two patents covering “significant contributions to the fields of artificial intelligence, machine learning, neuromorphic computing, and neuroscience-inspired computing” invented by the university’s professors.
It asked the court for an unspecified amount of monetary damages and an order blocking Anthropic from infringing its patents.
(Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Aurora Ellis)
