A federal judge has given final approval to a USD$1.5 billion settlement between Anthropic and a group of authors who accused the artificial intelligence company of illegally using their books to train its Claude chatbot, closing one of the largest copyright disputes yet over AI development.
U.S. District Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin approved the agreement in San Francisco on Monday. The ruling clears the way for payments to eligible authors and publishers. It also marks the largest known settlement in a U.S. copyright case involving artificial intelligence.
The lawsuit began in 2024 after several authors claimed Anthropic copied pirated versions of their books without permission. They argued the company relied on those works to train Claude, its large language model.
However, the case took a significant turn last June. Then-U.S. District Judge William Alsup ruled that using copyrighted books to train an AI model qualified as fair use under U.S. copyright law. At the same time, he found Anthropic violated copyright by storing more than seven million pirated books in what he described as a central digital library, even when those books were not necessarily used for training.
Alsup initially approved the settlement last September before retiring. Martinez-Olguin issued the final approval after reviewing objections from authors who challenged the agreement.
Additionally, Anthropic said the settlement reflected the legal landscape created by Alsup’s earlier fair use ruling. The company said more than 91 per cent of eligible authors and publishers have already claimed their share of the settlement funds and added that it expects to complete the process.
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Several authors argued the settlement amount was not enough
Meanwhile, lead attorney Justin Nelson described the agreement as a historic recovery for copyright holders. He said it represents the largest known copyright settlement to date and that distributions to eligible class members will begin as quickly as possible.
The case had been scheduled for trial last December to determine damages for Anthropic’s storage of pirated books. Potential financial penalties could have reached hundreds of billions of dollars if the court ruled against the company.
However, several authors argued the settlement amount remained too low. Some objectors also claimed the agreement awarded excessive legal fees or excluded certain copyright owners from compensation.
Martinez-Olguin rejected those arguments. She wrote that criticism of the settlement failed to account for the legal risks and uncertainty of proceeding to trial. The judge also approved more than USD$101 million in legal fees, although plaintiffs’ attorneys had requested about USD$187.5 million.
Additionally, some authors and publishers chose to opt out of the settlement entirely. Those copyright owners continue to pursue separate lawsuits against Anthropic, leaving other legal challenges over AI training practices still before U.S. courts.
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