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Authors report publishers and agents claiming unearned shares of Anthropic copyright settlement

Confirmed1 source · Sep 6, 2026

Recipients of payments from a $1.5 billion settlement are receiving claims from third parties asserting rights to portions they may not be entitled to.

Authors report publishers and agents claiming unearned shares of Anthropic copyright settlement
Image via TechCrunch

What happened

Authors notified to receive payments under Anthropic's $1.5 billion copyright settlement finalized in July—which provides $3,000 per pirated work to authors of nearly 500,000 titles—have reported receiving emails claiming others are staking claims on their payments. Publishers are reportedly claiming payment for works whose rights have reverted to authors years ago, and some are seeking 100% of payments on books where they should only receive 50%. Literary agents have also reportedly made claims on settlement payments. Writers Beware editor Victoria Strauss reported receiving multiple complaints over two days describing the same errors repeatedly, suggesting the issue is systemic rather than routine glitches. Authors Guild CEO Mary Rasenberger and others have attributed the claims to poor recordkeeping and confusion around the settlement process rather than intentional wrongdoing, though some publishers have already acknowledged mistakes and asked Anthropic to correct them.

Context

The settlement resolved a class action copyright suit where a judge ruled that training AI on copyrighted material is legal under fair use, but pirating it is not. Under the deal's terms, if a book is in-print with a publisher, payments split 50-50; if self-published or rights have reverted, the author receives the full $3,000. The issue hinges on determining rights status, particularly when rights reverted—the settlement uses August 10, 2022 as the cutoff date. The scale of the settlement and number of titles involved creates complexity in verifying legitimate claims, and widespread payment errors could undermine the compensation intended for authors.

What's disputed

Whether the claims represent intentional overreach or honest record-keeping failures. Strauss noted some publishers have already claimed these are mistakes they've requested be fixed, while Authors Guild CEO Rasenberger stated she does not believe publishers are 'specifically trying to screw any author over.' The extent to which errors are actually systemic or represent routine glitches in a large operation remains unclear.