Industry & Advocacy News
August 27, 2025
Anthropic and the plaintiffs in the Bartz v. Anthropic lawsuit have reached an agreement to settle their case after formal negotiations, including mediation with a third-party mediator. The parties will present a comprehensive settlement proposal to Judge Alsup on September 5th with the full settlement terms, and a hearing is scheduled for September 8th, where Judge Alsup will review the terms of the settlement. Read more about the case here.
At this time, the details of the settlement have not been made public, including the amount of money that the authors will receive from Anthropic for copyright infringement, but there will be a payout. We know that the attorneys representing the author plaintiffs in Bartz—who also represent the Authors Guild and other plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit against OpenAI—expertly litigated the case and agree with the decision to settle on a fair and favorable basis rather than drag out the case another year or two with the inevitable appeals. We look forward to authors and publishers finally receiving the compensation they are owed for the brazen, intentional theft of their works.
Mary Rasenberger, CEO of the Authors Guild said, “We hope this sends a strong message to the AI industry that there are serious consequences when they pirate authors’ works to train their AI, and that Judge Alsup’s decision will steer them to start acting ethically to protect the future of the professional arts by seeking permission for the works they use to train their AI, rather than stealing from those least able to afford the loss.”
If you are not an Authors Guild member and there is a chance that Anthropic downloaded your books from LibGen or PiLiMi, fill out this contact form to be notified by the lawyers representing the class action with information about the settlement.
If you are an Authors Guild member, your information has already been provided to the class action attorneys under a court order. You don’t need to submit a contact information form to the lawyers, though you may if you want to.
Secure your rights to out-of-print books. If any of your traditionally published books are out of print, make sure you document the reversion of your rights. This ensures you’ll be entitled to the full share of settlement money for the book.
Question? Email staff@authorsguild.org, or if you are a member, use the legal help request form.
We will continue to monitor the settlement and update members as details become available.
Related Reading:
Anthropic Settlement Notice Update for Authors
December 3, 2025
Authors Guild Urges Respect for Copyright in Comments to White House on AI
November 6, 2025
Key Updates on the $1.5 Billion Anthropic Settlement
October 2, 2025
