The Landmark $1.5 Billion Anthropic Settlement Wins Final Approval

The checks will soon be in the mail after a federal judge this week granted final approval to the landmark $1.5 billion settlement in Bartz v. Anthropic.

In a July 20 order—delivered roughly two months after an uneventful final fairness hearing in May—judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín in the Northern District of California ruled that the settlement met the legal standard of being “fair, reasonable, and adequate.”

“The $1.5 billion Settlement provides substantial benefits to the Class in light of the novel claims asserted. Success at trial was not assured, and a loss would have left the Class with no recourse,” Martínez-Olguín held, adding that the class’s response to the settlement was “overwhelmingly favorable” with the claims rate reaching at least 91.3% of eligible works—with 440,490 works claimed out of the 482,460 eligible works.

Anthropic Settlement Appears to Cruise Through Its Final Fairness Hearing

Attorneys told the court that the settlement claims rate had grown to nearly 93%, while the opt-out and objection rates were “minuscule,” a strong sign that the deal meets the standard of being “fair, reasonable, and adequate.”

Words & MoneyAndrew Richard Albanese

The only notable change in the order pertained to attorney fees, which the judge slashed nearly in half from the requested amount. Lawyers had requested a fee award of 12.5%, or roughly $187.5 million, but instead were awarded $101,561,111— nearly 6.8% of the settlement fund, which is still a record payday for a copyright infringement suit.

While the initial settlement announcement estimated authors would be paid roughly $3,000 per work (in most cases to be split with publishers depending on contract terms) a little back of the envelope math suggests that the final number of claimed works (and the reduced legal fees) suggests the per work payout could end up being more than $3,100.  

What’s at Stake—and What Isn’t—as Bartz v. Anthropic Settlement Heads Toward Approval

Dave Hansen, executive director of the Authors Alliance, breaks down the state of play in the AI litigation space after the landmark Anthropic settlement inched closer this week to final approval.

Words & MoneyDavid Hansen

Publishers, meanwhile, stand to reap a major windfall. After being added to the class as beneficial copyright owners, some of the larger publishers are now set to receive tens of millions of dollars. This week, for example, Bloomsbury became the first publisher to announce that how much they are due to collect: more than $21 million for more than 14,000 works included in the settlement.