Key facts
- Bloomsbury, publisher of the Harry Potter series, will receive approximately $19 million from Anthropic's $1.5 billion copyright settlement.
- The settlement resolves claims that Anthropic used copyrighted books without permission to train its AI models.
- The payout includes $3,000 per work for an estimated 500,000 works.
- Judge William Alsup previously ruled that AI training on copyrighted text constitutes fair use, but Anthropic's acquisition of books from pirate sites was deemed illegal.
- The settlement is considered the largest copyright recovery in U.S. history.
Bloomsbury, the publisher behind the Harry Potter series, is set to receive approximately $19 million as part of a $1.5 billion copyright settlement with AI startup Anthropic. The settlement, which received final approval from a federal judge, resolves claims that Anthropic used copyrighted books without permission to train its artificial intelligence models.
U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín signed off on the agreement, which will deliver $3,000 per work across an estimated 500,000 works. While this is reportedly the largest copyright recovery in U.S. history, many creators do not view it as a complete win. This is largely due to a prior ruling by Judge William Alsup, who found that training AI on copyrighted text constitutes fair use. However, Alsup also deemed Anthropic's method of acquiring books from pirate sites illegal, leading to the settlement to avoid a trial.
The settlement closes this specific case but does not establish binding legal precedent for the broader industry, as it did not proceed to an appeals court. Numerous other lawsuits against AI companies like Google, Meta, and OpenAI over similar copyright issues are ongoing. Bloomsbury confirmed that 14,087 of its titles were included in the agreement, and after legal fees, the publisher and affected authors will share the proceeds.