Industry & Advocacy News
October 2, 2025
October 2: The searchable Works List and Claim Forms are now available at www.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com.
What You Should Do Right Now:
Find more info here.
September 25: This afternoon, Judge Alsup preliminarily approved the settlement proposal in Bartz v. Anthropic at a hearing in the district court in San Francisco. At a September 8 hearing, Judge Alsup had instructed the parties to file additional details on allocation between authors and publishers, as well as notices and claim forms. Those additional papers were filed this Monday, September 22, and the judge indicated he was pleased with the work the lawyers had done and agreed to approve the settlement.
The brief filed by class counsel in support of the settlement proposal praised the Authors Guild and other groups for our assistance in advising them, stating that the “contributions of the Guild have been extensive by any measure.” It went on to say that the “massive effort on the part of the Guild—undertaken without any compensation—will further its ‘goal to make the claims process as efficient as possible and to encourage as many authors whose works are on the Works List as we can to file claims and to do so accurately.’”
The settlement website—www.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com—will be updated within seven days of preliminary approval, by October 2, 2025, with a searchable Works List, long-form notice, and Claim Form. At that time, you’ll be able to look up your books on the site to confirm whether they are in the Class and submit your claim(s) online if one or more of your books is on the list. There will also be mail/fax/email alternatives available, or you can wait to receive an official notice and submit the claim by mail. For updated information, please go to our webpage on the Anthropic settlement.
September 17: Settlement Status and Approaching Preliminary Approval
The Anthropic preliminary approval hearing is set for Thursday, September 25. As we approach the preliminary approval hearing next week in this historic settlement, we want to acknowledge the teamwork on the plaintiffs’ side in getting this settlement to where it is now. The publishers have played an indispensable role, and this is a prime example of authors and publishers working together to fight threats to the publishing ecosystem and literary culture. We and other author groups have worked with publishers, class representatives Andrea Bartz, Kirk Johnson, and Charles Graeber, and class counsel, lending advice and especially our expertise on contracts. When we work together against the AI companies who have built their AI on the backs of authors and publishers without permission or pay, we win.
September 15: We have updated our explainer to reflect changes in the settlement plan following a hearing for preliminary approval of the settlement agreement held before Judge William Alsup in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California on September 8.
September 5: On September 5, 2025, Anthropic agreed to pay $1.5 billion to settle claims that it downloaded pirated books to train its AI systems—the largest U.S. copyright settlement in history. The parties in Bartz v Anthropic, one of the major copyright lawsuits brought by authors against an AI company for using pirated books to train its large language models, filed a proposed settlement agreement with the court that would settle the claims regarding the company’s mass piracy in downloading millions of books from notorious pirate sources LibGen and PiLiMi (a mirror of Anna’s Archive) and retaining them in a central library.
The proposed settlement provides that Anthropic will pay $1.5 billion plus interest in cash into a settlement fund, representing the largest U.S. copyright infringement settlement ever and greater than any copyright damages award ever secured. The amount of the award sends a signal to all AI companies that downloading illegal copies of books to train AI comes with a heavy cost and, we expect, will foster further licensing, given the potential enormous liability AI companies risk when they help themselves to books for free from illegal channels.
“This historic settlement is a vital step in acknowledging that AI companies cannot simply steal authors’ creative work to build their AI just because they need books to develop quality LLMs,” said Authors Guild CEO Mary Rasenberger. “It is truly shocking that Anthropic and the other major LLM owners engaged in criminal-level piracy schemes to torrent millions of books knowingly from infamous foreign ebook piracy sites that the publishing industry has actively been trying to take down for years. Imagine the outrage if Anthropic and others had illegally siphoned off electricity to build their AI, claiming it was too expensive to pay for it? These vastly rich companies, worth billions, stole from those earning a median income of barely $20,000 a year. This settlement sends a clear message that AI companies must pay for the books they use just as they pay for the other essential components of their LLMs. This settlement lays down an anchor that it is not okay. We expect that the settlement will lead to more licensing that gives author both compensation and control over the use of their work by AI companies, as should be the case in a functioning free market society.”
Read more here:
What Authors Need to Know About the $1.5 Billion Anthropic Settlement
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
Authors Guild Welcomes Approval of Anthropic Settlement
September 25, 2025
