Anthropic’s $1.5 billion book piracy settlement approved by judge

A federal judge approved Anthropic's $1.5 billion class action settlement with authors who accused the AI company of training its models on copyrighted books, marking the largest known copyright recovery in history. Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín ruled the settlement provides meaningful relief, offering authors around $3,000 per pirated book, with over 91% of eligible authors and publishers having claimed their share.

A federal judge has signed off on Anthropic’s $1.5 billion class action settlement with authors who accused the company of training its AI models on copyrighted books, as reported earlier by https://www.reuters.com/world/us-judge-approves-anthropics-15-billion-settlement-copyright-lawsuit-2026-07-20/ Reuters . In an order on Monday https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28503369-anthropic-settlement-final-approval/ , Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín writes that the settlement will provide “meaningful relief,” offering authors around $3,000 for each book allegedly pirated by Anthropic. The $1.5 billion settlement is the “largest known copyright recovery in history,” according to the law firm representing the plaintiffs https://www.susmangodfrey.com/wins/court-grants-final-approval-of-historic-1-5-billion-ai-copyright-settlement/ . A group of authors — Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber, and Kirk Wallace Johnson — first filed a copyright lawsuit against Anthropic in 2024. While the now-retired Judge William Alsup granted Anthropic a partial victory /news/692015/anthropic-wins-a-major-fair-use-victory-for-ai-but-its-still-in-trouble-for-stealing-books last year, he approved a separate class action lawsuit /anthropic/709183/anthropic-class-action-lawsuit-pirated-books-authors-downloads claiming the company engaged in the “Napster-style downloading of millions of works.” Anthropic agreed to a $1.5 billion settlement /anthropic/773087/anthropic-to-pay-1-5-billion-to-authors-in-landmark-ai-settlement in September 2025, to which Judge Alsup later granted preliminary approval https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/us-judge-approves-15-billion-anthropic-copyright-settlement-with-authors-2025-09-25/ . “We are pleased that more than 91% of authors and publishers covered by the settlement have claimed their share of the payment,” Anthropic general counsel Aparna Sridhar tells Reuters . “We’re looking forward to bringing this matter to a close.” Anthropic is still facing copyright lawsuits from Chicken Soup for the Soul https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/chicken-soup-soul-publisher-sues-tech-companies-over-ai-training-2026-03-18/ and several other authors https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/99347-authors-file-new-lawsuit-against-ai-companies-seeking-more-money.html who argue that $3,000 per book isn’t enough.