The center of the suit was Anthropic’s library of 7 million pirated books in their training data, that could carry a penalty of $150,000 per infringement — and as a class action case, a loss would entail damages for every single author.
An unfavorable ruling would therefore be debilitating to Anthropic, and send dark clouds across the industry, likely forcing them toward a settlement.
No details yet
Anthropic hasn’t commented on the substance of the settlement, which don’t seem clear yet, preferring to say that it has negotiated a «proposed class settlement» to The Verge.
Justin Nelson, attorney for the plaintiffs, said to multiple outlets that:
— This historic settlement will benefit all class members. We look forward to announcing details of the settlement in the coming weeks.
Early September motions
According to The Verge, details of the settlement are to be agreed by September 3, while Ars Technica has put a date on the final approval motion for September 5.
Anthropic originally scored a win on the merits for buying books to train their AI models, with the presiding US District Judge William Alsup deciding that this was little different from training school kids in writing.
He did, however, hold that the pirated books were illegal, and allowed it to go forward as a class action suit.
UPDATE: Anthropic has agreed to pay $1.5 billion in the settlement, annouced on September 5, 2025.
Read more: The actual settlement in principle, writeups on Bloomberg Law, Ars Technica, and The Verge