Anthropic—Anthropic agreed to $1.5 billion copyright settlement with authors, the largest in US history
In August 2025, Anthropic agreed to pay $1.5 billion to settle the Bartz v. Anthropic class action, the largest copyright settlement in US history. The settlement covered approximately 500,000 copyrighted works at ~$3,000 each. Anthropic also agreed to destroy the two pirated book libraries and derivative copies within 30 days. The settlement only covered past conduct and did not create an ongoing licensing scheme. Judge Alsup granted preliminary approval in September 2025.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intellectual Property Ethics | +toward | primary | +1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | +0.664 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.59)× agency (reactive ×0.75)
Evidence (1 signal)
Anthropic agreed to $1.5 billion settlement, the largest copyright settlement in US history
Anthropic agreed to pay $1.5 billion covering approximately 500,000 copyrighted works at ~$3,000 each. The company also agreed to destroy the pirated library copies and derivatives within 30 days of final judgment. Judge Alsup granted preliminary approval September 25, 2025.