Industry & Advocacy News
September 17, 2026
Update, September 17, 2026: The initial 30-day window for co-claimants to try and resolve any allocation disputes has been extended to 60 days. We have updated this deadline below.
Update, September 14, 2026: The Authors Guild has gathered further information regarding the Anthropic allocation dispute process. We have updated this post with additional guidance on disputes involving publisher errors and rights reversion.
September 4, 2026: As part of the claims reconciliation process in the Anthropic copyright class action lawsuit, the settlement administrator sent out notices this week to all claimants summarizing each of their claims and noting who else filed a claim for each title and what percentage of the award others claimed.
Here’s how you can confirm or update your claims and allocations, as well as more information on allocation discrepancies and claims involving rights reversion, educational publishers, and agents.
The notice provides you with a unique Claim Number, a PIN, and a link to a secure portal where you can review the claim details. A screen shot of the login page is below.
Most claimants will simply be asked to confirm the details. They will also be able to update their payment information and address if those details have changed since they filed the claim. A screen shot of the “Consolidated Claims Form Summary—No Disagreements” page is below.
For some claimants, the notice will indicate that another co-claimant for a given work filed a claim with a conflicting allocation (e.g., the co-claimants disagree on how settlement proceeds for a work should be split). In those cases, claimants are required to check the information previously entered and either confirm or revise that information. Claimants who receive a notice advising of an allocation dispute will be led to a portal link containing additional screens that provide information on how to proceed. A screen shot of the “Consolidated Claims Form Summary—Disagreements” page is below.
Please note that certain publishers have informed the settlement administrator that they mistakenly selected a 100 percent allocation rather than the default option. The administrator is updating those publishers’ allocation percentages accordingly. Authors who are concerned that their publisher seems to have mistakenly selected a 100 percent allocation instead of a default 50-50 split should log in again next week to see if the issue has been corrected. Those changes may resolve any apparent disagreements as to this issue.
Claimants who believe that the allocation amount they originally claimed is correct do not need to change that information.
Examples of disputes include situations where the author claimed a 100 percent allocation based on a belief that the rights had reverted to the author, the claimed work was published with an educational publisher who selected a different allocation from the author, or an agent entered a claim for 15 percent. Those scenarios are addressed in more detail below.
Once claimants confirm the allocations or update them in the case of a disagreement, they will next see this screen.
Finally, when they submit the form, they will see a “Success” page like this:
The notices from the actual settlement administrator are not scams, but be aware that scammers have used the Anthropic settlement as bait and set up similar/look-alike or misspelled domain names, so please be sure to check the sender’s email address and information before clicking on any link. Legitimate emails will come from info@anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com, and any links should direct to a page on the settlement website: www.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com.
All claimants should have received a notice by September 4, 2026. If you did not receive a notice, you may contact the settlement administrators, JND Legal, by phone at 1-877-206-2314 or by email at info@anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com. But do check your spam folder first.
Update, September 14, 2026
Last week, we reported that certain publishers had erroneously claimed 100 percent and were amending their claims. The settlement administrator has sent out emails to class members whose claim forms were affected by this error to let them know that changes are underway and to check the claims portal this week (of September 14, 2026) with updated allocations.
Authors are encouraged to reach out to their publishers to resolve disputes or challenge their claims, as well as make changes to or reaffirm the allocation they believe they are entitled to through the online portal. The major publishers have set up special email inboxes to handle disputes; we have listed these below and will add to the list as we get more information):
If your publisher does not have a central email address for issues around the settlement, you should reach out to your editor. If the editor is no longer with the publisher, try to find a contact for the general counsel or another contact identified on the publisher’s website. If you are unable to find a publisher contact, or you have reached out to the publisher contact without a response, please contact the settlement administrator and class counsel who can provide you with the publisher information.
The best contacts for class counsel are:
If the settlement administrator flagged a difference in the percentage split of the award (allocation) for one or more works included in a claim, it means that another rightsholder, such as a publisher or co-author, submitted a claim for the same work and their requested payment percentages do not align with the claimant’s selected percentage(s). For instance, we have heard from authors who thought they had their rights reverted and claimed sole ownership of a title and 100 percent of the award, but the publisher claimed 50 percent. For educational texts, claimants had no default allocation percentage to select, so discrepancies in claimed percentages between authors and publishers appear to be more common. More on this below.
Note that any discrepancy listed is simply a report of what other co-claimants for a given work have claimed. Disputes must be resolved before settlement payments will be distributed to disputing co-claimants. If the claimed allocations listed look incorrect, click on the “Update Allocation” button next to each work and type in the allocation you believe is correct. You will have the option to upload supporting documentation (such as a reversion letter or a copy of the contract) to prove that your chosen allocation is the correct one.
Claimants who receive a notice that states that “All claimants currently agree on the allocations” but this is not correct—for instance, if you selected 100 percent when you filed the claim, but the claim summary states that the parties agree on a default 50-50 split—should immediately contact the settlement administrator at 1-877-206-2314 or info@anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com and let them know that the listed information is incorrect and a disagreement does exist.
The settlement provides a 60-day window (extended from an initial 30 days) for co-claimants to try and resolve any differences by themselves. Unless the difference is resolved and an agreement reached between the claimants, funds for the work will not be released. If the dispute remains unresolved after 60 days, the settlement administrator will initiate contact to try to facilitate a mutually agreeable resolution. If those dispute-resolution efforts are unsuccessful, the dispute will eventually be submitted to a court-appointed Special Master empowered to make a final determination. We recommend co-claimants with a disagreement contact each other to try resolve such disagreements promptly, preferably within 60 days, so that settlement funds may be released.
Update, September 14, 2026:
Reversion of rights issues have caused considerable confusion. Here’s a quick guide to recommended actions you can take:
If you have a rights reversion letter indicating rights have reverted to you, upload it through the portal and change the allocation to 100 percent for yourself. In addition, email the rights reversion letter to the publisher with a copy to the settlement administrator. Note, however, that if rights reverted to you after August 10, 2022—the later of the two download dates—then the publisher may have a valid claim if they owned exclusive rights at the time of the download dates and as such were a legal owner of the rights at that time. You can still challenge the claim based on a later reversion, but it may delay the resolution of your claim and payment.
If you do not have a reversion letter from the publisher, but you have a copy of the notice (email, letter or another record) that you sent the publisher requesting a reversion, the same recommendations apply.
If you don’t have a reversion letter and/or a record of sending a request for your reversion but have not received a royalty statement in a long time and have a good faith belief that you obtained a reversion of rights, you may still claim 100 percent. Upload a signed statement that you believe rights have reverted to you and send the statement to the publisher with a copy to the settlement administrator. The publisher may have a record, or they may simply voluntarily withdraw their claim.
If your book is out of print but you never initiated the reversion process, you might still be able to claim 100 percent if you have not received royalty statements from the publisher in some time. You may reach out to the publisher and ask them to voluntarily withdraw their claim.
Some of the publishers we have spoken to are willing to be flexible, but whether or not you can successfully claim 100 percent without clear evidence—such as a reversion letter or notice of reversion—will depend on the case. The Guild is also asking publishers to voluntarily withdraw their claims on books that have not had sales in over ten years.
The Authors Guild is helping its members challenge allocation disputes. If you are a member, please reach out to us with your contract so we can explain the legal context of your position and advise you on possible courses of action.
The Authors Guild’s position is that an author whose rights reverted before August 10, 2022 (the “download” date in the settlement), should be entitled to 100 percent of the funds for the title, depending on the contract. If their publisher(s) also claimed a right to settlement proceeds for the work, that may be due to faulty records on their part. Authors can help resolve that situation by submitting a copy of a reversion letter or other documentation of the reversion to the online portal provided by the settlement administrator. Authors who don’t have a copy of their reversion letter but are certain that rights reverted to them, or if rights reverted by operation of contract or for another reason such as a breach, should submit that information to the settlement administrator via the online portal. Authors can also reach out directly to the publishers and advise them that the rights are reverted and request that the publishers amend their claim accordingly. Authors Guild members who continue to have trouble can submit a request for legal assistance.
Note that if rights in an author’s work reverted after August 10, 2022, the publisher may have a valid claim (assuming it was the legal owner of the rights at the time infringement occurred), and as such the author (and any co-author) may be entitled to only 50 percent of the award (excluding educational works, discussed below).
If an author’s claim involves an educational work, the publisher may be asserting a different split from the author based on language in the relevant agreement. Unlike standard trade publishing agreements—which typically provide an exclusive license for specific uses and expressly reserve the rest of the rights to the author (meaning the publisher only controls the rights specifically granted to it) —educational agreements are often “all rights assignments” where the publisher assumes full ownership of the copyright and the author retains no rights unless specifically set out in the contract (such as for future royalties). Further, most trade contracts contain an express provision regarding actions brought against infringers and allocation among the author and publisher if both cooperate, but very few educational text contracts do. Where contracts include no guidance on infringement action awards in the contract, many educational publishers are claiming that the standard royalty rate in the contract applies. So, for instance, if the royalty rate is 10 percent to the author, educational publishers are claiming 90 percent of the award. Any author who believes that their contract provides for a different split should utilize the dispute resolution process to assert their claim.
The Textbook and Academic Authors Association (TAA) is keeping close track of this and is a good resource for information on educational text claims.
Some agents have filed claims for 15 percent. To be clear, agents are not right owners and as such are not legal claimants entitled to payment from the claims administrator.
If an agent believes they are entitled to their commission, they need to obtain it from the author. Whether they have the contractual right to do so depends on the contract or arrangement they have with the author. The award is not a payment that flows through the publishing agreement, so if an agent is entitled only to monies coming through the publishing contract, then they should not claim a commission. We assume that most agents will not be claiming a commission unless they did a lot of work to help put the claims together and file them.
The Guild’s legal team is helping members navigate the dispute-resolution process. If you are Guild member who is confused about the notice or the allocation of settlement proceeds, please send in a legal help request. We will also represent Guild members in proceedings before the Special Master for disputes that remain unsolved after the informal dispute-resolution process has run its course.
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