Judge approves Anthropic’s $1.5 billion copyright settlement with authors
The payout size and per-book rate could set a benchmark for author rights in AI training and affect future licensing and litigation strategies.
At a glance
- $1.5 billion settlement approved by a federal judge
- Around $3,000 per book allegedly pirated
- Settlement described as the largest known copyright recovery in history by plaintiffs’ counsel
- Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín signed off on the agreement; preliminary approval had been granted previously by Judge William Alsup
The story
According to The Verge, a federal judge signed off on Anthropic’s $1.5 billion class-action settlement with authors who accused the company of training its AI models on copyrighted books.
In an order on Monday, Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín wrote that the settlement will provide proper relief, noting authors would receive around $3,000 for each book allegedly pirated by Anthropic.
The law firm representing the plaintiffs labeled the $1.5 billion settlement as the “largest known copyright recovery in history.”
The suit was first filed in 2024 by authors Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber, and Kirk Wallace Johnson. Judge Alsup had granted a partial victory last year, and preliminary approval was granted earlier in the process.
Anthropic general counsel Aparna Sridhar told Reuters that more than 91% of authors and publishers covered by the settlement have claimed their share of the payment, and the company is aiming to bring the matter to a close.],