Judge Grants Preliminary Approval to $1.5 Billion Anthropic Settlement, Marking Major Win for Authors

The battle between authors and AI companies took a decisive turn this week when U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup granted preliminary approval to the $1.5 billion copyright settlement in Bartz v. Anthropic. The landmark case centers on Anthropic’s use of pirated books from shadow libraries like LibGen and PiLiMi to train its large language models.

Court documents confirm that the final list of eligible works includes 482,460 titles—each to receive an estimated $3,000 payout, making this the largest copyright recovery in U.S. history.

Judge Alsup called the settlement “fair” and praised the legal teams, noting, “We have some of the best lawyers in America in the courtroom right now and I think you can do it.”

Industry leaders hailed the ruling as a turning point. Association of American Publishers president and CEO Maria Pallante emphasized the settlement’s message: “Piracy is an astonishingly poor decision for a tech company, and—as the settlement figure demonstrates—an expensive one. The law should not reward AI companies that profit by stealing.”

The Authors Guild echoed the sentiment, describing the deal as a milestone that underscores the steep price of infringement and may finally push AI companies toward licensing agreements. They also confirmed plans to assist writers in navigating the claims process once official notices are distributed.

With preliminary approval secured, the next step is notifying class members. A searchable database of eligible works will be available on the official settlement site, allowing authors and publishers to confirm whether their titles are included.

While final approval still lies ahead, this decision is already being hailed as a watershed moment for copyright law in the AI era—a clear warning to tech companies that exploiting creative work without consent is both legally risky and financially costly.