Anthropic Settles Landmark $1.5 Billion Copyright Lawsuit with Authors Over Pirated Books
AI company Anthropic settled a $1.5 billion copyright lawsuit with authors for using 500,000 pirated books to train its Claude models, marking the largest US copyright recovery.
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Overview
- AI company Anthropic agreed to a $1.5 billion settlement with authors in a class-action lawsuit over copyright infringement.
- The settlement addresses Anthropic's use of an estimated 500,000 pirated books to train its large-language models, including Claude.
- This $1.5 billion agreement marks the largest publicly reported recovery in US copyright litigation history, paying authors $3,000 per book.
- US Senior District Court Judge William Alsup ruled that while using legally purchased books was fair use, downloading pirated content violated copyright law.
- The landmark settlement requires Anthropic to destroy the original pirated book files and aims to deter other AI companies from unlawfully acquiring content.
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Analysis
Center-leaning sources cover the Anthropic settlement neutrally, focusing on factual reporting of the legal proceedings and outcomes. They present both the authors' claims of copyright infringement via pirated books and Anthropic's "fair use" defense, along with the judge's nuanced ruling. The coverage includes diverse perspectives from lawyers, authors' representatives, and legal analysts without editorial bias.
"The landmark settlement, if approved by a judge as soon as Monday, could mark a turning point in legal battles between AI companies and the writers, visual artists and other creative professionals who accuse them of copyright infringement."
ABC News"This historic settlement is a vital step in acknowledging that AI companies cannot simply steal authors' creative work to build their AI just because they need books to develop quality large language models."
NPR"This landmark settlement far surpasses any other known copyright recovery and sets a precedent requiring AI companies to pay copyright owners."
Fortune"The settlement, which was presented to a federal judge on Friday, still needs final approval but would pay $3,000 per book to hundreds of thousands of authors, according to the New York Times."
Gizmodo"This landmark settlement marks the largest payout in the history of U.S. copyright law, but this isn’t a victory for authors — it’s yet another win for tech companies."
TechCrunch"The landmark settlement, if approved by a judge as soon as Monday, could mark a turning point in legal battles between AI companies and the writers, visual artists and other creative professionals who accuse them of copyright infringement."
NPR"The landmark settlement could mark a turning point in legal battles between AI companies and the writers, visual artists and other creative professionals who accuse them of copyright infringement."
CBS News"The settlement shows "there are serious consequences when" companies "pirate authors’ works to train their AI, robbing those least able to afford it," Rasenberger said."
ARS Technica"The proposed settlement amounts to a gross recovery of $3,000 per work, Nelson said in a memorandum to the judge in the case."
NBC News"This landmark settlement far surpasses any other known copyright recovery."
CNET"The settlement figure amounts to about $3,000 per class work, according to the filing."
Deadline"The landmark settlement, if approved by a judge as soon as Monday, could mark a turning point in legal battles between AI companies and the writers, visual artists and other creative professionals who accuse them of copyright infringement."
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FAQ
The lawsuit was based on Anthropic's use of an estimated 500,000 pirated books, downloaded from shadow libraries like LibGen and PiLiMi, to train its Claude large-language models without authorization, violating copyright law.
Anthropic agreed to pay at least $1.5 billion, which amounts to approximately $3,000 per pirated book involved in the lawsuit, marking the largest copyright recovery in U.S. history.
In addition to the $1.5 billion payment, Anthropic agreed to destroy the pirated book files they acquired from shadow libraries, aiming to prevent further unlawful use and deter other AI companies from similar practices.
U.S. Senior District Court Judge William Alsup ruled that using legally purchased books to train AI models constituted fair use, whereas downloading and using pirated books violated copyright law.
This case is part of a wider trend of copyright litigation against AI companies like Meta, Google, OpenAI, and others, who have been sued for allegedly using copyrighted works without permission to train large language models, reflecting increasing legal scrutiny of AI training data methods.
History
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