Authors push back as publishers seek share of Anthropic's $1.5B settlement

rohanpaul_ai · x · 2026-09-07

Authors are contesting publisher and agent claims on payouts from Anthropic's $1.5B copyright settlement:

The fund covers 500,000 eligible titles at roughly $3,000 each; non-education works default to a 50/50 author-publisher split;
Sole rightsholders can claim 100%; the Authors Guild says authors whose rights reverted before August 10, 2022 may qualify depending on contract terms;
Authors now report publishers claiming rights-reverted works or 100% of in-print awards normally split;
In the underlying case, the court granted Anthropic summary judgment that training on the named authors' books was fair use, while piracy remained a separate damages issue.

More from Safety