The class action lawsuit against Anthropic has dominated the news for a while now and looks set to continue to do so. The latest development, uncovered by Jane Friedman, is the light that the ruling about the composition of the class in the class action has cast on the relation between traditionally published authors and their publishers.
ALLi News Editor Dan Holloway
To be a part of the class, you will recall, you must (among other things) have registered your work with the US Copyright Office. I have noted on several occasions that this may well leave many indie authors out in the cold. But it now transpires this is a situation many traditionally published authors find themselves in as well.
Publishers Under Scrutiny
Not all publishers (and by not all, the indications are that this is a large number in relation to many titles) have registered all their authors’ works in this way. And authors, understandably, aren’t happy. Some publishers—Pan Macmillan and Tor are two Friedman names—have agreed to meet settlement costs where they failed to register copyright. But this is an interesting new factor to consider for authors weighing up the route they want to take.
Apple Faces Its Own Case
Now it seems another class action may be brewing. This time the defendant is Apple, in regard to its OpenELM large language model. As with the case against Anthropic, what is at issue is the use of shadow libraries. The particular one cited in this case is Books3 (though others may be included), which I seem to recall was originally targeted in the Anthropic case but not included by the judge when defining the class. Publishers Weekly reports on the lawsuit here.
Finally, don’t forget to take part in ALLi’s Indie Author Income Survey, which closes tomorrow. Building on 2023’s groundbreaking survey, this is a key part of determining the trends affecting the way we earn now and in the future.
Those of you who listen to the podcast of this column will know that I have been out of action for a few days, and am still recovering. I haven’t been sick—I have been afflicted with the entirely self-conferred agonies of running a very long way along one of the UK’s rivers. Now I am back at the desk in body, but the mind and portions of the feet are still catching the bus back. So that’s by way of apology for more than the usual levels of pen fog (and by way of apology to our fabulous editor, Howard, for filing even later than usual).
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