NXIP advises author in $1.5 Billion Anthropic Class Action Settlement

Bartz et al. v Anthropic PBC.

 Where we are:

“A settlement has been reached in a class action lawsuit claiming that Anthropic infringed protected copyrights by downloading books in two allegedly pirated online datasets called Library Genesis (LibGen) and Pirate Library Mirror (PiLiMi).  Anthropic denies all allegations and argues that its use of the downloaded datasets was fair use”.

Background to the Class Action:

The alleged infringement took the form of Anthropic constructing their AI system, a large language model (LLM) system called Claude, which they then commercialised to generate significant revenue. LLMs are AI systems trained on long-form text datasets to construct models that are capable of statistically analysing and imitating a human's capacity to connect concepts and words into sensible utterances.  

The Claude system is alleged to have been constructed using long-form text datasets including The Pile, which in turn incorporates a dataset called "Books3".  The creator of "Books3" apparently created it by downloading a compilation of 196,640 books (at least some of which are still protected under copyright law) called Bibliothik. Bibliothik is referenced in many places as pirated content.

The Plaintiffs asserted that this use of copyright-protected books from Bibliothik to construct the Claude AI system did not constitute fair use, and thus infringed the rights of the copyright holders. The Defendants admitted no liability but proposed to enter into a no-fault settlement with the Plaintiff class.

The Settlement:

A class member is a legal or beneficial owner of work that was included in the LibGen or PiLiMi datasets downloaded by Anthropic; has an International Standard Book Number (ISBN) or Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN); and was registered with the U.S. Copyright Office within five years of first publication.   

With these factors applying, then class members have until March 30, 2026 to file a claim to request to be eligible for payment from the $1.5 Billion Settlement Fund.

The court has scheduled a hearing on April 23rd in San Francisco to consider whether to approve the Settlement.

Role of NXIP

After receiving notification of being an author of works named in the class action, we were approached by the author concerned that a number of their works had been digested and used to train Claude. By assessing the circumstances of their publications and the author’s contractual relationship with the publisher we were able to advise and assist the author in submission of their claim.

A searchable database of all works covered by the Settlement can be found at www.AnthropicCopyrightSettlement.com/lookup.

Practice Points

Recent changes as of 2026 to the EPO Guidelines for examination now introduce dedicated guidance on artificial intelligence, confirming that parties remain fully responsible for AI-assisted filings and formalising AI use within EPO procedures.   This guidance dovetails with the guidance issued by EPI which can be found at the following link: epi Information | epi Guidelines: Use of Generative AI in the Work of Patent Attorneys

If you have any questions about NXIP’s use of AI or how we are helping clients assess risk and opportunities while incorporating AI into a business strategy then please contact us at:

alex.turnbull@nxip.co.uk