Anthropic copyright settlement paused over attorney-fee questions

A U.S. federal judge delayed final approval of Anthropic’s $1.5 billion copyright settlement with authors, pushing the case further into uncertainty. The judge, Araceli Martinez-Olguin, asked lawyers for more detail on attorney fees and payments to lead plaintiffs before signing off. The proposed Anthropic copyright settlement targets about 120,000 authors and copyright holders covering 91% of eligible works. Court filings cited by Reuters say participation is unusually high versus typical U.S. consumer class actions, supporting the settlement’s “historic” scale. Planned payouts are at least $3,000 per eligible title before costs and fees, with a standard 50/50 split between authors and publishers for non-educational works; self-published authors or those with rights that reverted would receive the full amount. Background: a prior ruling by retired Judge William Alsup found Anthropic’s use of books for AI training could qualify as fair use if materials were legally obtained, but he said stockpiling pirated copies in a “central library” beyond training was not protected. The case had been set for a high-stakes trial that could have produced damages in the hundreds of billions of dollars, but Anthropic agreed to settle after preliminary approval in September 2025. Some creators objected. Over 25 authors opted out and filed a separate lawsuit on May 13, including novelists Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida. The plaintiff law firms (Susman Godfrey and Lieff Cabraser) are seeking $187.5 million (12.5% of the fund), down from an earlier request of $300 million. The judge’s delay leaves the Anthropic copyright settlement unresolved as the parties await clarification on fees and lead-plaintiff payments.