Judge Rejects Anthropic’s $1.5 B Settlement in AI Copyright Lawsuit
Key Points
- Judge William Alsup rejected preliminary approval of Anthropic’s $1.5 billion settlement.
- The lawsuit alleges Anthropic used pirated works to train its AI models.
- Approximately 500,000 authors are part of the class action.
- Alsup criticized the lack of a clear list of works and inadequate notice to class members.
- The court set a September 15 deadline for a finalized works list.
- A final approval of notice and claim forms is required by early October.
- The settlement could be barred from future litigation against Anthropic.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup has refused to give preliminary approval to a record‑breaking $1.5 billion settlement that Anthropic reached with a class of authors alleging the AI company used pirated works to train its large language models. Alsup said the deal was “nowhere close to complete” and raised concerns about inadequate notice to class members, a vague list of works, and the lack of a clear opt‑in process. He gave the parties a deadline to submit a finalized list of works by September 15 and required court‑approved notice and claim forms by early October before any settlement can move forward.
Background
Anthropic agreed to a settlement of the class action filed by hundreds of thousands of writers who claim the AI developer harvested pirated copies of their works to train large language models. The settlement amount—$1.5 billion—was touted as the largest ever in a copyright recovery case. Plaintiffs alleged that roughly 500,000 authors were affected and that each work could generate a $3,000 payout for the creator.
Judge William Alsup, presiding over the case, expressed “disappointment that counsel have left important questions to be answered in the future,” including the exact list of works involved, the identities of all class members, and the mechanics for notifying and compensating those members.
Judge’s Concerns and Next Steps
In his order, Alsup wrote that he was “uneasy” about a deal that placed “all that money on the table” without a clear process for class members to claim their share. He warned that class‑action settlements often leave members “getting the shaft” once monetary figures are set and lawyers lose interest.
Alsup demanded that the plaintiffs’ counsel provide very good notice to the class and design a claim form that allows members to opt in or out. He also required that Anthropic be barred from future lawsuits on the same issue. The judge set a deadline of September 15 for the lawyers to submit a final list of works and required that the works list, class‑member list, and claim form be examined and approved by the court by October 10 before any preliminary approval can be granted.
Until those conditions are satisfied, the settlement remains stalled, and the authors continue to await a resolution that will ensure they receive appropriate compensation and notice.