Anthropic's $1.5B Copyright Settlement Wins Final Approval; Judge Trims Fees and Opt-Outs

A U.S. district judge on Monday gave final approval to Anthropic's $1.5 billion settlement of a class-action copyright lawsuit, marking the largest known copyright recovery in history, according to the law firm representing the plaintiffs.

Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín of the Northern District of California signed off on the deal, which had received preliminary approval from retired Judge William Alsup last year. Alsup had ruled that Anthropic's training of AI models on copyrighted text was fair use, but found that the company's method of obtaining books from pirate sites such as Library Genesis was illegal. Anthropic agreed to the settlement shortly after to avoid a trial on the piracy question.

The payout delivers approximately $3,000 per work across an estimated 500,000 works, shared among authors and publishers who hold the rights. Martínez-Olguín wrote that the settlement provides "meaningful relief" and noted that the per-work payment is "four times the minimum statutory damages."

**High Participation and Few Opt-Outs**

The judge emphasized that about 95 percent of the class received notifications and roughly 91 percent of affected authors and publishers have already filed claims. Only 350 class members opted out of the settlement, while another 54 sought to object or filed late opt-out requests, according to the judge's order. Martínez-Olguín overruled most objections and denied most late opt-out requests, granting only two — one from a co-author who did not receive a settlement notice and another from an author who suffered a stroke and lacked a Spanish translation of the notice.

Anthropic blocked the last-minute attempts to exit the settlement, which would have exposed the company to separate litigation. "We are pleased that more than 91% of authors and publishers covered by the settlement have claimed their share of the payment, and we're looking forward to bringing this matter to a close," Anthropic's deputy general counsel, Aparna Sridhar, said in a statement.

**Lawyers' Fees and Plaintiffs' Awards Reduced**

Although the total settlement amount was approved, Martínez-Olguín cut the requested legal fees and service awards. Lawyers had originally sought 20 percent of the settlement fund, or $300 million, later reducing that to 12.5 percent, about $187 million. The judge ruled that figure was too high and trimmed fees to less than 7 percent of the fund, approximately $101 million, according to Ars Technica. The judge also ordered that lawyers must file a post-distribution accounting, with the possibility of further reductions if fees are less than anticipated.

The three lead plaintiffs — authors Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber, and Kirk Wallace Johnson — had their service awards reduced from $50,000 to $15,000 each. Martínez-Olguín called the higher amount "unreasonable." In a statement, the lead plaintiffs said the settlement "brings us one step closer to real accountability for Anthropic and puts all AI companies on notice they can't shortcut the law or override creators' rights."

**Broader Legal Landscape**

The settlement closes the case against Anthropic, but it does not settle the broader legal question of whether training AI on copyrighted works is fair use. Alsup's ruling was a single district court decision, and because Anthropic settled, the issue will not reach an appeals court to create binding precedent. Other judges remain free to reach their own conclusions.

A string of similar lawsuits continues against companies such as Google, Meta, Midjourney, and OpenAI. Just last week, a group of publishers and authors, including Hachette, Cengage, Elsevier, and author Scott Turow, filed a class action against Google over alleged use of copyrighted works to train its Gemini AI platform, as reported by TechCrunch. Anthropic also still faces a separate copyright lawsuit from Chicken Soup for the Soul and other authors who argue that $3,000 per book is insufficient, according to The Verge.

Martínez-Olguín noted that some authors may receive more than the $3,000 per work if funds remain after all valid claims are paid, with a possible redistribution to class members unless it is economically infeasible.