Technology and Science06 September, 20262 min read
Authors Guild Members Fight Publishers Over Anthropic’s $1.5 Billion Copyright Settlement Payments
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Publishers and agents claim shares of authors’ Anthropic settlement payments. First payments estimated around $2,203.56 per title, due November 1–15.
Settlement sparks payout fights
Authors awaiting payments under Anthropic’s $1.5 billion copyright settlement say they are receiving notices that publishers or literary agencies are claiming shares of their compensation. The dispute is tied to a court ruling that training AI models on lawfully acquired books could qualify as fair use, while using pirated copies from sources like LibGen and PiLiMi was not protected, and Anthropic settled for $1.5 billion rather than risk potential liability exceeding $70 billion.
The settlement’s first payments of roughly $2,203.56 per title are due November 1–15, but only for works where every rightsholder has agreed on the split, and the fund covers roughly 500,000 titles at $3,000 per work. Mary Rasenberger, chief executive of the Authors Guild, said the process is vulnerable because “not all publishers keep great records of what books they’ve reverted rights to,” and she added that publishers “should be taking it off their catalog.”
Publishers, agents, and pushback
TechCrunch reported that some authors said they received emails informing them that someone else was making a claim on their payments, even as the settlement administrator tries to clear up who owns rights to more than 482,000 books covered by the agreement. Mystery and thriller author April Henry asked, “WTF is HarperCollins playing at?,” after she said HarperCollins claimed one of her books on the Anthropic Settlement that reverted back at least 17 years ago.
Victoria Strauss of Writers Beware described two categories of complaints, including cases where publishers seek payment for works they no longer have a legitimate claim on because rights have reverted, and cases where publishers seek full 100% payment when they are only entitled to 50%. Strauss urged people not to assume deliberate wrongdoing, saying she is “reluctant to attribute to malice what can be plausibly explained by poor recordkeeping,” and she also said some literary agencies are making claims despite her view that “agents are not rightsholders in the books that they sell.”
What rights dates decide
The settlement terms hinge on when rights reverted, with authors saying the process can stall if competing claims are not resolved before the November payment window. To receive 100% of the compensation, the rights to a book must have reverted before August 10, 2022, which one report calls the agreement’s “download date,” and the threshold is described as the key issue for determining who is entitled to the full amount.
The New York Times said the settlement administrator began recently informing authors and publishers of discrepancies, and it quoted Rasenberger saying she does not see the situation as a grab by publishers. In a separate account, Courtney Milan criticized agency claims directly, writing, “Apparently some agents are trying to claim percentages on the Anthropic settlement, and I do not REMOTELY think they should do this, what the fuck, stop that shit!”