When Anthropic agreed to settle with authors for $1.5 billion—with a potential payout of $3,000 per book infringed—many details were left up in the air. Probably the biggest: How much of the recovery will go to the author versus the publisher? Even though the class-action lawsuit was brought by authors, the judge’s ruling brought publishers into the case as rightsholders of the pirated books. But the judge has been critical of the plaintiffs for not offering sufficient detail about how the claims process will work, especially if disagreement arises between rightsholders.
This week, the plaintiffs offered additional detail, saying that most claimants will be able to agree to a default (but not mandatory) 50-50 split, which is common in publishing contracts for splitting the proceeds in copyright infringement cases. However, claimants can reject that default if they have a different contractual arrangement and provide evidence of it. Contracts for some types of works—especially textbooks—vary widely and may not even mention a split in this kind of scenario. The plaintiffs estimate such books represent about 25 percent of the class.
The plaintiffs suggest automatically distributing payments to all known class members to avoid a low claim rate. For any unclaimed work, those funds will be redistributed among other claimants.
Numerous organizations, including Novelists, Inc., Romance Writers of America, Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association, Sisters in Crime, and the Authors Guild, have declared support for the agreement. Authors can still choose to opt out of the case entirely if they wish.
The next hearing to discuss the claims process is on Sept. 25. Learn more in Publishers Weekly.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
