In the United States, a significant legal development occurred when Anthropic, an AI company, reached a $1.5 billion settlement in a copyright lawsuit. This lawsuit was initiated in 2024 by authors Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber, and Kirk Wallace Johnson, who accused the company of illegally using their copyrighted works to train its AI model, Claude. The authors claimed that Anthropic's business model relied on the large-scale theft of copyrighted materials, which they argued was detrimental to the rights of creators. The court found that while Anthropic had illegally acquired millions of books through shadow libraries, it was protected under fair use when utilizing these works for AI training purposes. This ruling marked a pivotal moment in copyright litigation against AI companies, as it was the first class action lawsuit of its kind. The lawsuit was certified as a class action in July 2024, and Anthropic agreed to settle in August of the same year, following concerns that a prolonged legal battle could jeopardize the company's future. The settlement was approved by a US judge, setting a record as the largest settlement in copyright law history. Each payout from the settlement will amount to approximately $3,000, distributed among around 500,000 pieces of works, which is significantly higher than the statutory damages typically awarded for willful infringement. The class of copyright owners includes those whose works were found in shadow libraries such as LibGen and PiLiMi, which Anthropic had accessed. Anthropic expressed its intention to resolve the matter and noted that over 91% of authors and publishers involved in the settlement had claimed their share of the payment. The settlement received preliminary approval in September 2025, and Anthropic's valuation has seen substantial growth, reaching nearly $1 trillion following a Series F funding round. This settlement represents a small fraction of the company's overall value but underscores the ongoing tensions between AI development and copyright law.
