Book authors Jacqueline Winspear et al.  sue Meta for both LlaMa and new Muse models. Infringement alleged not only for torrenting but also for scanning physical books in Project Vellum

Author Jacqueline Winspear and 59 other book authors sued Meta in the Northern District of California, alleging copyright infringement in both the older LlaMa models and the newer Muse models, and adding a claim that Meta's scanning of physical books it lawfully owns — a program Meta called Project Vellum, disclosed in discovery in Chicken Soup for the Soul, LLC v. Meta Platforms, Inc. — is itself infringement. The suit, likely to be assigned to Judge Chhabria, follows Judge Alsup's ruling in Bartz v. Anthropic that scanning lawfully owned print books is fair use while rejecting fair use for copies acquired from shadow libraries, and brings Meta's total AI copyright lawsuits to 17 by the author's unofficial count, the 149th such suit against an AI company in the US.

Book author Jacqueline Winspear https://jacquelinewinspear.com , the creator of the popular Maisie Dobbs series, along with 59 other book authors, wasted no time in suing Meta not only for its old LlaMa models but also for its new Muse models https://chatgptiseatingtheworld.com/2026/09/22/amazon-blocks-shopping-by-meta-muse-agent/ . What’s different about this lawsuit is that, on top of alleging infringement in the torrenting of digital copies from shadow libraries currently as issue in Kadrey v. Meta as to the alleged distribution side , the Complaint alleges that Meta’s scanning of physical books that it lawfully owns is also infringement. The only federal court to consider the physical scanning issue, Judge Alsup, held that it was a fair use in Bartz v. Anthropic https://chatgptiseatingtheworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Judge-Alsup-order-on-fair-use-and-infringement-Jun-23-2025.pdf , while he rejected fair use in the acquisition of copies from shadow libraries at least on Meta’s motion for summary judgment: “ As a result , Anthropic’s format-change from print library copies to digital library copies was transformative under fair use factor one. Anthropic was entitled to retain a copy of these works in a print format. It retained them instead in a digital format, easing storage and searchability. And, the further copies made therefrom for purposes of training LLMs were themselves transformative for that further reason, as above.” Bartz Order on Fair Use, at 17-18. Meta revealed its Project Vellum during discovery in the cluster of cases now related to Kadrey v. Meta : “Def. Meta Platforms, Inc.’s Second Supp. Resps. & Objs. to Pl.’s First Set of Interrogs. at 17–18, Chicken Soup for the Soul, LLC v. Meta Platforms, Inc. , No. 3:26-cv-02333-VC N.D. Cal. Sept. 4, 2026 , filed as ECF No. 140-6 Sept. 12, 2026 hereinafter “Meta Interrog. Resps.” .” Winspear filed her Complaint in the Northern District of California, where it will likely be assigned to Judge Chhabria , who presides over all the book author and publisher lawsuits against Meta. By my unofficial count, Meta now faces 17 copyright lawsuits related to its AI models, although some are consolidated or related: This the 149th copyright lawsuit against an AI company in the United States. 150 is up next. Here’s the Complaint’s allegations: DOWNLOAD: