AI Company Agrees to $1.5 Billion Settlement to Resolve Copyright Infringement Case

Copyright Infringement

Andrea Bartz, et al. v. Anthropic PBC (USDC Northern District Case No. 3:24-cv-05417-WHA): In November 2025, the parties involved in a copyright infringement matter agreed to the terms of a $1.5 billion settlement to resolve the claims set forth by plaintiffs, a group of fiction and non-fiction authors. Plaintiffs alleged that defendant Anthropic PBC, an AI company, built a multibillion-dollar business by pirating hundreds of thousands of copyrighted books and used this material to train its AI Large Language Model (LLM), which in turn then created work product based on the authors’ syntax, style and themes. The terms of the settlement included a 1.5 billion settlement fund, plus additional payments of $3000 per book used by Anthropic in its LLM. Plaintiffs were represented by Susman Godfrey LLP and Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Berstein LLP. Defendant was represented by Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP and Latham & Watkins LLP.