The settlement is subject to court approval, and a hearing will take place on September 8th. According to a press release, the final amount could be higher, in that approximately 500,000 works will likely be paid out, but if the total is higher than that, Anthropic will pay an additional $3,000 per work, and it all depends on the number of claims submitted. As part of the settlement, Anthropic must also destroy the original files it downloaded and any copies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe settlement only releases claims based on past acts \u2013 it does not give Anthropic a license or permission for future AI training and it does not release any claims that arise after August 25, 2025,\u201d the release stated.<\/p>\n
The landmark decision is part of a year-long saga. In August 2024, three authors \u2014 Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber, and Kirk Wallace Johnson \u2014 alleged<\/a> that Anthropic had \u201cbuilt a multibillion-dollar business by stealing hundreds of thousands of copyrighted books.\u201d Over the summer, a federal judge handed Anthropic a small win<\/a>, ruling that the company was within its legal rights to train its AI models on legally purchased books. But the judge also said that Anthropic would need to face a separate trial for its alleged use of pirated books. In July, a California federal judge ruled that the authors could bring a class action lawsuit representing all US writers whose work allegedly came from libraries of pirated books downloaded by Anthropic. And late last month<\/a>, Anthropic said it had settled the class action lawsuit \u2014 but we didn\u2019t know the terms until now.<\/p>\n \u201cIn June, the District Court issued a landmark ruling on AI development and copyright law, finding that Anthropic\u2019s approach to training AI models constitutes fair use,\u201d Aparna Sridhar, Anthropic\u2019s deputy general counsel, told The Verge in a statement. \u201cToday\u2019s settlement, if approved, will resolve the plaintiffs\u2019 remaining legacy claims. We remain committed to developing safe AI systems that help people and organizations extend their capabilities, advance scientific discovery, and solve complex problems.\u201d<\/p>\n The settlement is especially noteworthy during a time of mounting lawsuits against AI companies over copyright infringement from media outlets, platforms, creatives, and companies \u2014 and, at the same time, an increasing number of partnerships with those same AI companies from companies and media outlets willing to provide data to train AI systems in order to get a piece of the pie.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not the only legal action Anthropic has faced in recent years. This summer, Reddit filed suit against Anthropic, claiming that the AI company\u2019s bots had accessed Reddit more than 100,000 times since July 2024, after Anthropic had said it blocked them from doing so. And in 2023, Universal Music sued Anthropic over \u201csystematic and widespread infringement of their copyrighted song lyrics.\u201d<\/p>\n For this case, authors and rightsholders may visit AnthropicCopyrightSettlement.com<\/a>, the release stated, a website that \u201cwhich gives potential class members an option to provide contact information to Class Counsel.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn the coming weeks, and if the court preliminarily approves the settlement, the website will provide to find a full and easily searchable listing of all works covered by the settlement and information for class members about their options and rights regarding the settlement,\u201d the release said.<\/p>\n 0 Comments<\/a>Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Hayden FieldClose Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n PlusFollow<\/p>\n See All by Hayden Field<\/a><\/p>\n AICloseAI<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n PlusFollow<\/p>\n See All AI<\/a><\/p>\n AnthropicCloseAnthropic<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n PlusFollow<\/p>\n See All Anthropic<\/a><\/p>\n CopyrightCloseCopyright<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n PlusFollow<\/p>\n See All Copyright<\/a><\/p>\n LawCloseLaw<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n PlusFollow<\/p>\n See All Law<\/a><\/p>\n NewsCloseNews<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n PlusFollow<\/p>\n![\"Hayden](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/257719_staff_portraits_2025_HAYDEN_AKrales_0081.jpg\"\/)
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