Advocacy Accomplishments Learn about some of our successes from more than a century of fighting for authors’ rights. Share on Twitter (opens in a new tab) on Facebook (opens in a new tab) on Linkedin (opens in a new tab) via email The Authors Guild protects working writers and the writing profession. For more than 100 years, we’ve advocated for the rights of authors in Congress, in state legislatures, with publishers and publishing platforms, in courtrooms, and on the public stage. Our work includes fighting for fair contracts; defending authors’ copyrights and fighting piracy; protecting authors’ freedom of expression; opposing censorship, including and especially book banning; and negotiating fair terms with publishers and platforms. You can read about some of our accomplishments below. Select a link to jump straight to a specific category. Artificial Intelligence Free Speech and Book Banning Copyright Publishers Publishing Platforms Publishing Scams and Bad Publishers Piracy Freelancer Protections Historical Accomplishments Artificial Intelligence OpenAI Lawsuit We Sued OpenAI and Microsoft for Copyright Infringement Along With a Group of Fiction and Nonfiction Authors We Uncovered OpenAI’s Intentional, Illegal Mass Piracy and Disdain for Human Authorship Anthropic Settlement We Advised Class Counsel in the $1.5 Billion Bartz v. Anthropic Class Action Settlement on Key Issues Related to Copyright and Publishing We Helped Get the Word Out About the Settlement, Leading to a Remarkable 91.3 Percent Claim Rate We Helped Hundreds of Author Members File Claims and Resolve Disputes With Their Publishers and Agents Human Authored Certification We Launched the Human Authored Certification, Allowing an Author to Certify That Their Book Was Written by a Human and Not Generated by AI, and Partnered with Other Organizations to Bring the Certification to International Markets AI Best Practices We Developed Guidelines to Help Authors Navigate Issues Related to AI and Its Implications for the Writing Profession AI Model Clauses We Developed Model Contract Clauses Covering Important Aspects of AI Use to Help Authors Protect Their Work AI Open Letter We Shared an Open Letter Signed by More than 15,000 Authors Calling on AI Industry Leaders to Protect Writers All AI Advocacy Efforts Free Speech and Book Banning NEH Class Action We Brought a Class Action Suit Over the Illegal Cancellation of NEH Grants by DOGE—and Won Book Banning and Censorship We Sued to Stop Book Banning Laws in Texas, Florida, Colorado, Iowa, and Arkansas We Helped Restore a Critically Acclaimed Indigenous Account, Colonization and the Wampanoag Story by Linda Coombs, to the Nonfiction Collection in a Texas Library System We Lobbied for Freedom to Read Laws in Rhode Island and Massachusetts We Wrote an Amicus Brief Supporting the Dismissal of Petitions to Find A Court of Mist and Fury and Gender Queer Obscene in Virginia All Free Speech Advocacy Efforts | All Book Banning Advocacy Efforts Copyright Warner Chappell Music, Inc. v. Nealy The U.S. Supreme Court Agreed With Our Argument Strengthening Copyright Protections for Authors Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith The U.S. Supreme Court Clarified the Role of “Transformative Use” in Deciding Fair Use Hachette Book Group v. Internet Archive We Supported Four Major Publishers in Their Lawsuit Against the Internet Archive’s Blatant Copyright Infringement Copyright Claims Board We Spent a Decade and a Half Lobbying for a Small Claims Tribunal in the Copyright Office, Culminating in the Opening of the Copyright Claims Board in 2022 All Copyright Advocacy Efforts Publishers Albert Whitman Bankruptcy We Shared Detailed Guidance on Bankruptcy and Authors’ Rights and Represented Members in Legal Proceedings PRH–S&S Merger We Supported the DOJ’s Antitrust Suit to Block the Merger of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster Publishing Platforms Amazon and Audible We Convinced Amazon to Revise Its Ebook Return Policy Allowing Returns Within Seven Days Regardless of the Amount Read We Wrote a Letter Signed by 13,000 Authors and Persuaded Audible to Stop Charging Authors for Returns We Worked With Amazon to Resolve Issues With It Prioritizing Third-Party Booksellers That Don’t Earn Authors Royalties Spotify We Got Spotify to Remove Overbroad Language Concerning Derivative Works Rights and AI Training From Its Findaway Voices Terms of Use Publishing Scams and Bad Publishers PageTurner Press We Helped FBI Investigators Track Down the Scammers Behind PageTurner Press TouchPoint Press We Negotiated the Closure of TouchPoint Press and Won a Default Judgment Returning Rights to 18 of Our Members Piracy Z-Library We Assisted the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI in Their Investigation and Shutdown of the Notorious Ebook Piracy Site Z-Library Kiss Library We Won a Default Judgment Permanently Shutting Down the Ukraine-Based Ebook Piracy Ring Kiss Library Freelancer Protections Federal Level We Lobbied the U.S. House of Representatives to Include Unemployment Relief for Independent Workers in 2020 COVID Funding State Level We Lobbied for the Passage of the Freelance Isn’t Free Act in New York State and Los Angeles Historical Accomplishments Read about some of our historical accomplishments here. We Are Stronger Together Join the Guild and stand beside more than 18,000 of your fellow authors in the fight to protect the writing profession. Learn About Membership and Apply You can also support our work with a tax-deductible gift to the Authors Guild Foundation. Donate Now
