Anna's Archive sued over data scraping and copyright infringement
Thirteen US publishers, represented by the Association of American Publishers (AAP), filed a lawsuit against Anna's Archive on March 9, 2026, seeking permanent injunctive relief and court orders against third-party registries and registrars for alleged willful copyright infringement. As of March 9, 2026: Anna's Archive is also facing a lawsuit from Spotify and major record labels seeking up to $13 trillion in damages for allegedly scraping 86 million music files and 256 million audio track metadata, representing 99.6% of Spotify's catalog. The platform lost its .PM domain name on February 6, 2026, and a court previously found it illegally reproduced and distributed copyrighted sound recordings, resulting in a worldwide injunction. Anna's Archive claims to have 'hacked' Spotify for 'preservation' and has begun releasing millions of scraped audio files despite the legal actions.
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2026
20 updatesThirteen US publishers, represented by the Association of American Publishers (AAP), have filed a lawsuit against Anna's Archive for alleged willful copyright infringement. The publishers are seeking permanent injunctive relief and court orders against third-party registries and registrars. The lawsuit also claims Anna's Archive is used by tech companies to train AI models in exchange for cryptocurrency.
Anna's Archive has lost its .PM domain name following international pressure exerted on intermediaries. This action comes in the wake of a significant lawsuit filed by Spotify and major record labels, who are seeking substantial damages from the platform.
via torrentfreak.com
Anna's Archive has started releasing millions of audio files scraped from Spotify, despite facing a $13 trillion lawsuit from the music streaming giant and major record labels. The site is accused of "brazen theft of millions of files containing nearly all of the world's commercial sound recordings." TorrentFreak reported that Anna's Archive's index lists dozens of new torrents containing approximately 2.8 million tracks totaling roughly 6 terabytes of audio data.
Legal efforts to enforce domain suspensions against Anna's Archive are encountering jurisdictional challenges, with not all foreign intermediaries complying with U.S. court orders. Privacy-focused domain registrars are also not automatically adhering to the suspensions.
via torrentfreak.com
A court has found that Anna's Archive illegally reproduced and distributed copyrighted sound recordings, resulting in a worldwide injunction against the platform. Spotify and major record labels are seeking up to $13 trillion in damages.
Spotify is facing a lawsuit from major record labels alleging that the streaming platform allowed links directing users to Anna's Archive, a site known for unauthorized access to copyrighted material. The labels contend that Spotify facilitated access to infringing content by making these links accessible.
Spotify and major record labels are seeking $12.9 trillion in statutory damages from Anna's Archive in their lawsuit.
via edmtunes.com
Major record labels Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Universal Music Group, along with Spotify, accused Anna's Archive of scraping 256 million audio track metadata and 86 million music files, representing 99.6% of Spotify's catalog. The lawsuit, which includes allegations of direct copyright infringement and breach of contract, also led to Public Interest Registry cutting services for Anna's Archive's .org domain without prior notification and the shutdown of its .se domain.
via musicbusinessworldwide.com·complextv.cloud.google.com·androidauthority.com·computerworld.com·complextv.cloud.google.com
New details emerged regarding the lawsuit against Anna's Archive, revealing it was initially filed under seal in December 2025 and led to a temporary restraining order compelling internet infrastructure providers, including Cloudflare, to cut off services. Anna's Archive failed to appear in court for the preliminary injunction, and the lawsuit alleges violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
via musicbusinessworldwide.com·news.ycombinator.com·androidauthority.com
Anna's Archive claimed to have 'hacked' Spotify and scraped 86 million music files for 'preservation,' intending to release them in bulk torrents. The music industry's lawsuit alleges Anna's Archive unlawfully used Spotify's API to circumvent technical protection measures.
It has been clarified that Spotify, alongside major record labels, is a plaintiff suing Anna's Archive for unauthorized scraping and distribution of music files, correcting previous reports that Spotify was being sued by labels.
Anna's Archive is facing additional legal challenges, including a permanent injunction from a U.S. federal court regarding the unauthorized use of WorldCat database content. This is separate from the ongoing lawsuit by Spotify and major record labels.
via daily.dev
Anna's Archive was reportedly not notified of the lawsuit filed by Spotify and major record labels until its primary .org domain was taken down.
The .in domain of Anna's Archive was taken down with a serverHold status, leaving .li and .pm as the primary operational mirrors. Additionally, an amended lawsuit against Nvidia accused the company of attempting to pay Anna's Archive for high-speed access to its pirated book collection for LLM training.
via en.wikipedia.org·musicbusinessworldwide.com·complex.com·tomshardware.com·ajournalofmusicalthings.com
Nvidia is facing a class-action lawsuit alleging it used millions of pirated books from Anna's Archive to train its AI models. Internal documents suggest Nvidia contacted Anna's Archive to access its data, despite being informed the content was illegally acquired.
via cybernews.com
In a separate legal action, OCLC (maintainer of WorldCat) won a default judgment and permanent injunction against Anna's Archive in an Ohio federal court, ordering the shadow library to delete all scraped WorldCat data and cease its use and distribution.
via en.wikipedia.org·musicbusinessworldwide.com·complex.com·tomshardware.com·ajournalofmusicalthings.com
A judge has ordered Anna's Archive to delete the scraped data. The lawsuit by Spotify and major record labels is viewed as a deliberate escalation, addressing mass scraping and DRM circumvention as an existential threat to streaming.
U.S. District Court Judge Jed Rakoff issued a preliminary injunction, ordering Anna's Archive to cease hosting, linking to, or distributing the copyrighted works, and also targeting third-party intermediaries like domain registries and hosting companies. The lawsuit was made public on this date.
via en.wikipedia.org·musicbusinessworldwide.com·complex.com·tomshardware.com·ajournalofmusicalthings.com
The primary .org domain of Anna's Archive was suspended by the Public Interest Registry. Anna's Archive confirmed the suspension on Reddit but stated that other domains were operational and new ones had been added.
via en.wikipedia.org·musicbusinessworldwide.com·complex.com·tomshardware.com·ajournalofmusicalthings.com
The court granted a temporary restraining order against Anna's Archive as part of the lawsuit filed by Spotify and the record labels.
via en.wikipedia.org·musicbusinessworldwide.com·complex.com·tomshardware.com·ajournalofmusicalthings.com
2025
4 updates
2025
4 updatesSpotify confirmed it identified and disabled user accounts involved in the unlawful scraping activity by Anna's Archive. The company also implemented new safeguards to prevent future incidents.
Spotify, Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group filed a lawsuit against the unknown operators of Anna's Archive in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging mass copyright infringement, breach of contract, DMCA violations, and Computer Fraud and Abuse Act violations.
via en.wikipedia.org·musicbusinessworldwide.com·complex.com·tomshardware.com·ajournalofmusicalthings.com
Spotify has responded to the scraping incident by disabling involved user accounts and implementing new safeguards. Additionally, Google delisted approximately 749 million URLs associated with Anna's Archive following numerous takedown requests, and a court order from March 22, 2024, granted a motion to serve Anna's Archive by email.
Google has blocked approximately 749 million Anna's Archive URLs from its search results following numerous takedown requests from copyright holders. This action is part of ongoing efforts to combat 'shadow libraries' and AI scraping.
via lifehacker.com
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