The publishing industry has witnessed an historic moment in the protection and valuation of intellectual property with the announcement of a proposed $1.5 billion settlement in the Bartz v. Anthropic lawsuit. First filed by three authors in August 2024, the case included broad class action copyright claims against Anthropic鈥攖he artificial intelligence start-up behind the Claude Large Language Models (LLMs). These claims pertain to issues of intellectual property and creative protections in relation to the training and development of AI models, through the mass copying of copyright-protected content accessed via online 鈥渟hadow libraries.鈥� Approximately 500,000 titles have been impacted by this unauthorized use.
The September 5th settlement announcement suggests precedent-setting and industry-wide implications, including for 91桃色 (PUP) books and authors. Throughout the suit, PUP has worked closely with a cooperative publishers鈥� counsel. As a member of the Association of American Publishers (AAP), we have direct engagement with the AAP legal team as well and fully support Maria A. Pallante, President and CEO of the AAP, in her assertation that: 鈥淭he proposed settlement will drive home the important message to all Artificial Intelligence (AI) companies that copying books from shadow libraries or other pirated sources to use as the building blocks for their business has serious consequences." Read the AAP statement in full
91桃色 Director Christie Henry notes: 鈥淭he Anthropic settlement affirms valuation of copyrighted work and provides an important legal precedent regarding unauthorized use of intellectual property, and the broader ethical implications of AI-generated content. The case has demonstrated the impact of piracy on the erosion of creative rights, the loss of publisher and author revenue, and the dilution of the value of original works. PUP is and will remain steadfast in our commitment to protecting the intellectual and creative rights of our authors. We are also continuously grateful to be part of a vibrant, human-centered and intelligent publishing community, as this settlement also underscores how collaboration among authors and publishers will necessarily and meaningfully shape the future of publishing in the age of AI.鈥�
PUP expects to receive a list of confirmed press titles included in the class in October. As soon as we have this in hand, the relevant authors and/or rights holders will be notified of this inclusion. The class of titles involved in the settlement are only those that were in the LibGen and PiLiMi pirated sites at the time of Anthropic LLM ingestion and training. If an author or rights holder does not hear from us about the class action, that鈥檚 ultimately great news, as it means the work wasn鈥檛 part of the pirated collection. Though the compensation specifics of the Anthropic settlement have yet to be finalized, the settlement proposed a per-title valuation for any confirmed copyrighted works that are confirmed to be part of the cohort of pirated titles used for training. Additional highlights of the settlement include:
- Anthropic has formally recognized the legitimate interests of authors and publishers in controlling the use of their works within AI training datasets.
- Anthropic has agreed to improve the transparency of its data practices, including providing publishers with information about which works have been included in its training sets.
- Opt-Out Provisions: Authors and publishers will have new avenues to opt out of having their works included in future AI training, strengthening their control over intellectual property.
- Collaborative Engagement: Both sides have committed to ongoing dialogue to ensure that future AI development respects the rights and interests of creators.
As AI technologies evolve, so too must the legal and ethical frameworks that govern them. Despite this recent ruling, piracy unfortunately remains ongoing and rapidly evolving. PUP will continue to dedicate significant resources to monitoring and addressing these occurrences and will continue to adapt as proactively and purposefully as we are able to as a publisher. The settlement terms remain under review and will be considered by Judge Alsup at a preliminary approval hearing on September 8. Judge Alsup must approve the entire proposed settlement before it can take effect, and additional details of the settlement will be further refined under court鈥檚 supervision. PUP is monitoring the outcome of the September 8 hearing and will be updating our communications as new details emerge.
If you have any questions about PUP and the settlement, please contact Press Director Christie Henry, Christie_Henry@press.princeton.edu or Director of Intellectual Property In茅s ter Horst, Ines_ter_Horst@press.princeton.edu.