As promised, here is an update on yesterday’s hearing in the Anthropic case. This is very much breaking and emerging news.
ALLi News Editor Dan Holloway
To recap, a month ago, rights holders’ representatives and Anthropic agreed to a settlement in a case that the presiding judge could constitute a class action. The case sought damages from Anthropic for downloading pirated copies of books from Library Genesis and Pirate Library Mirror that had been registered with the US Copyright Office. The settlement meant that the original fair use ruling would not be challenged in court, and focused only on the piracy of the copies used—at least in this case—leaving open the possibility that in the future tech companies could simply pay retail price for works and then use them in AI training.
The settlement reached would result in a payment of $3,000 for every book identified to be in the class where the rights holder filed a claim. It is estimated that there may be half a million such books, resulting in a potential payout of $1.5 billion.
A fortnight ago the judge expressed concerns and failed to let the settlement stand as it was then presented. The concerns were about consultation with rights holders and the opportunity for rights holders to file a claim. He required the parties to provide a database of identified eligible titles and a way for authors to search that database (Publishers Weekly report).
At Thursday’s hearing, the judge stated that he was satisfied with the settlement in the light of the responses received to his earlier queries. Publishers Weekly reported that rights holders’ groups on both sides of the Atlantic have initially welcomed this announcement.
Key Facts for Authors
- 482,000 titles were identified as being eligible. Many of those not eligible fell short because they were not registered with the Copyright Office, causing some very uncomfortable discussions between authors and publishers.
- The courts have contact addresses for 58 percent (279,000 of 489,000) of those eligible titles.
- There will now be a concerted effort to reach the authors of the remaining titles. This will involve a publicity drive, clarity on which was one of the court’s questions.
- For titles where authors and publishers are rights holders, the $3,000 payment will be split 50–50 for trade and university press titles, an arrangement the judge has said he is satisfied with.
- Education titles will have rights split in a way to be agreed upon between parties.
More to Come
This case will continue to develop, and further details will emerge in the coming weeks. Authors are encouraged to stay informed and to watch for access to the searchable database of eligible titles.
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