Bartz v. Anthropic
Bartz v. Anthropic — Author Class Action and $1.5B Settlement (N.D. Cal.)
N.D. Cal. · Bartz v. Anthropic PBC, No. 3:24-cv-05417 (N.D. Cal.)
- Status
- In effect
- Took effect
- September 5, 2025
- Applies to
- Anthropic PBC
Authors Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber, and Kirk Wallace Johnson sued Anthropic over its use of pirated-book datasets to train Claude. In June 2025 Judge William Alsup ruled that training on lawfully purchased books was fair use. The piracy claims (LibGen ingestion) proceeded toward settlement; in September 2025 Anthropic agreed to a $1.5 billion class settlement covering ~500,000 works. Judge Alsup granted preliminary approval September 25, 2025 and final approval July 20, 2026. The appeal period runs through August 19, 2026; class members will not receive payments until at least end of 2026.
Who is protected: Class of authors whose works appeared in LibGen / PiLiMi / Books3 corpora used by Anthropic
Legal detail
Bartz v. Anthropic PBC, No. 3:24-cv-05417 (N.D. Cal., filed Aug. 19, 2024; Judge William H. Alsup). June 23, 2025 Order: training Claude on lawfully purchased books constituted transformative fair use; downloading pirated copies from Library Genesis and Pirate Library Mirror was not fair use and constituted infringement. Sept. 5, 2025: parties announced $1.5B class settlement covering ~500,000 works; preliminary approval Sept. 25, 2025; final approval and judgment July 20, 2026 (ECF 680, Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin); fee-allocation appeals filed Aug. 18–19, 2026 (9th Cir. Nos. 26-5391, 26-5455); objector notice Aug. 31, 2026; payments expected end of 2026 at earliest.
Key facts
| Jurisdiction | N.D. Cal. |
|---|---|
| Level | Federal |
| Strength | Stronger |
| Citation | Bartz v. Anthropic PBC, No. 3:24-cv-05417 (N.D. Cal.) |
| Topics | copyright and training data |
| Court record | Bartz v. Anthropic — CourtListener 3:24-cv-05417 |
More AI rules in N.D. Cal.
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Related copyright and training data rules elsewhere
- Hachette v. Google (Gemini AI copyright) · Blocked / in litigation
- New York Stealth Crawler Prohibition Act (2026) · Proposed / pending
- Copyright Office AI Guidance · In effect
- USPTO AI Inventorship Guidance · Repealed / replaced
- NYT v. OpenAI / Microsoft · Blocked / in litigation
- Authors Guild v. OpenAI · Blocked / in litigation
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