Anthropic's $1.5 billion copyright settlement received final court approval in July 2026. The deal covers roughly 500,000 pirated books at $3,000 per work. The money should split 50-50 if a book is still in print with a traditional publisher. If rights reverted to the author or the book was self-published, the author gets the full amount.
This week authors started posting that publishers are claiming payments for books whose rights reverted years ago. Mystery author April Henry said HarperCollins claimed a book that reverted at least 17 years back. Victoria Strauss at Writers Beware reported two patterns: publishers claiming works they no longer control, and publishers demanding 100 percent when they should get 50.
Agents too: Literary agencies are also filing claims. Author Courtney Milan wrote on Bluesky, "Apparently some agents are trying to claim percentages on the Anthropic settlement, and I do not REMOTELY think they should do this." Agents are not rights-holders.
Authors Guild CEO Mary Rasenberger told The New York Times this likely stems from poor recordkeeping and a confusing process, not intentional theft. Some publishers have asked Anthropic to fix errors. But the volume of complaints suggests something more systematic than random mistakes.
The reversion date matters: Authors can only claim 100 percent if rights reverted before August 10, 2022, the date Anthropic is believed to have downloaded the pirated files. Anyone with a later reversion faces a harder fight and needs extra documentation.
Why this matters: The settlement was supposed to establish that pirating copyrighted material for AI training has consequences. Instead, it's turning into a fight over who controls the compensation, with the original creators often losing twice — first to the AI company, then to former business partners.