Authors Clash With Publishers Over Anthropic Payouts
Authors awaiting payouts from Anthropic’s copyright settlement are pushing back against publishers and literary agencies attempting to claim shares of the funds, according to TechCrunch. The dispute surrounds a $1.5 billion settlement stemming from a class action lawsuit regarding the training of artificial intelligence models on copyrighted material.
Under the terms of the settlement, creators of nearly 500,000 titles are slated to receive $3,000 for each pirated work. For titles still in print with a traditional publisher, the payout is split evenly between the author and the publisher. Self-published works or titles with reverted rights are meant to yield the full payment directly to the author.
However, writers have reported receiving unexpected notices indicating that publishers are seeking payments for works with reverted rights, or demanding full 100% payments instead of the stipulated 50% split. Victoria Strauss of the Writers Beware blog noted that complaints also involve literary agencies attempting to claim portions of the settlements despite not holding rights to the books.
Industry figures, including Authors Guild CEO Mary Rasenberger, attribute many of the discrepancies to poor record-keeping and a complex distribution process rather than deliberate malice. Some publishers have already requested corrections from Anthropic, while advocacy groups continue to guide authors through the dispute process.
Based on reporting by techcrunch.com.
