Bloomsbury, the publisher of Harry Potter and bestsellers by Sarah J Maas, has announced it is set for a payout from a record $1.5 billion (£1.1 billion) settlement of a copyright class action in the US against AI firm Anthropic.
Details of the Settlement
London-listed Bloomsbury said it would share in the settlement – said to be the largest known copyright payout in US history – following a lawsuit brought by authors who alleged that Claude chatbot firm Anthropic used books to train its AI models without permission or paying for the content.
Bloomsbury stated it has 14,087 titles listed within the settlement, for about $3,000 (£2,243) for each work, which amounts to around $42.3 million (£31.6 million), less legal fees and other expenses.
Payout Distribution
The payout will be shared equally between authors and the publisher, with the settlement set to be spread over several payments over the final half of its financial year, Bloomsbury said.
On Monday, US district judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin said the settlement provided “meaningful relief” to affected authors and publishers.
The case began when bestselling novelist Andrea Bartz and two other authors filed the lawsuit in 2024.
Around 91% of the 482,000 works covered in the suit have been claimed.
Plaintiff attorney Justin Nelson said it was “the largest known copyright recovery in history”.
