Anthropic Settles Copyright Lawsuit Over Pirated Book Training Data
Anthropic has settled a class-action copyright lawsuit filed by authors who alleged the company trained its Claude AI system on millions of pirated books downloaded from illegal libraries. A federal judge had ruled in June that Anthropic could not claim fair use protection for the pirated books, exposing the company to billions in potential damages before the settlement.
What happened
Anthropic settled a class-action lawsuit filed by authors Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber, and Kirk Wallace Johnson in August 2024, who alleged the company trained its large language model Claude on copyrighted books without permission.
The authors claimed Anthropic both purchased books and digitized them, and also downloaded millions of copies from piracy sites including LibGen and PiLiMi. U.S. District Judge William Alsup ruled in June 2025 that Anthropic's use of purchased books was fair use, but that the company was not entitled to a fair use defense for books downloaded from piracy sites, and certified a class action on behalf of copyright owners.
Reported impact
Alsup's ruling exposed Anthropic to potential liability of billions in dollars in damages, as copyright law allows statutory damages of up to $150,000 per work. A trial was scheduled to begin in December 2025 to determine damages.
Index analysis
The settlement marks the first major settlement in a series of copyright lawsuits against AI companies, including similar cases against OpenAI, Microsoft and Meta Platforms.
The terms of the settlement were not disclosed in the court filing. Judge Alsup ordered the parties to file requests for preliminary approval by September 5, 2025.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.