As the landmark $1.5 billion copyright settlement with Anthropic is in the process of being divided up among publishers, authors, and lawyers, the Authors Guild is asking publishers to more equitably share the proceeds in certain types of claims.
In its September 25 newsletter, the Authors Guild called on publishers to voluntarily withdraw their claims from books that have been long out of print, regardless of whether there is proof that rights have formally reverted back to the author under the contract. The Guild said that it has heard from “far too many authors whose books have been out of print and have not had any communication from their publishers” for decades, but the publisher is still claiming 50% of the payout.
In an interview with PW on September 9, Guild CEO Mary Rasenberger said a lack of clarity over rights reversion was the most common problem the Guild was hearing about, largely because many publisher records are incomplete or totally missing.
“Let’s please agree that those rights should have reverted and the author deserves 100 percent,” the Guild wrote in its newsletter.
Another frequent complaint from authors is that their works were not included in the settlement because publishers had not registered their books on a timely basis, even though they were required to do so. Since only works registered with the U.S. Copyright Office and actually downloaded by Anthropic are entitled to a payout, the Guild is calling on publishers to pay 50% of the award amount per title to all authors whose works were 1) published prior to the download dates established by the settlement agreement, July 2021 and August 2022, 2) are currently on LibGen or Pirate Mirror Library (the pirate sites from which Anthropic downloaded), and 3) for which the publisher had a contractual obligation to register but failed to do so.
In asking for publishers to share more of the Anthropic proceeds, the Guild notes that many publishers will be receiving large payouts from the settlement, while most authors will be getting nothing “more than a modest vacation or the ability to pay bills from the settlement.”
The Guild maintains that even with the Anthropic settlement and other litigation efforts, “AI models continue to gorge books without the consent of their authors and publishers, now through destructive scanning. As an industry we face a decisive moment, and it behooves us all to look out for each other.”
Anthropic updates
The Friday newsletter also included a number of updates on the claiming process, beginning with the news that authors now have 60 days from the day they received their notice claim to file the necessary paperwork, rather than the original 30 days.
The Guild also advised authors that the settlement administrator has sent out emails to class members whose publishers had erroneously claimed 100% of the payout and were in the process of fixing those errors. Those emails began to go out the week of September 14.
And in an effort to help their authors navigate the settlement process, all Big 5 publishers have established online mailboxes where their authors can look for help.
- Hachette Book Group: [**anthropicclaims@hbgusa.com**](mailto:AnthropicClaims@hbgusa.com)
- HarperCollins: [**anthropicsettlement@harpercollins.com**](mailto:anthropicsettlement@harpercollins.com)
- Macmillan: [**anthropic@macmillan.com**](mailto:anthropic@macmillan.com)
- Penguin Random House: [**anthropicsettlement@penguinrandomhouse.com**](mailto:anthropicsettlement@penguinrandomhouse.com)
- Simon & Schuster: [**anthropicsettlement@simonandschuster.com**](mailto:anthropicsettlement@simonandschuster.com)