Bartz v Anthropic PBC

Case Information

Case name	Bartz v. Anthropic PBC
Court	U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
Docket	4:24-cv-05417-AMO
Filed	August 19, 2024
Judge(s)	Araceli Martínez-Olguín (final approval)
Plaintiffs	Andrea Bartz; Kirk Wallace Johnson; Andrea Bartz, Inc.; Charles Graeber; MJ + KJ, Inc.
Defendants	Anthropic PBC
Case type	Civil class action
Claims / issues	Copyright infringement involving books acquired for AI training
Status	July 20, 2026: $1.5 billion settlement finally approved; action dismissed with prejudice; court retained settlement-administration jurisdiction.

Bartz et al. v. Anthropic PBC is a copyright action concerning books copied for Anthropic’s library and Claude training. Authors Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber and Kirk Wallace Johnson brought the claims. Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín granted final approval of a $1.5 billion class settlement on July 20, 2026, after the May 14 fairness hearing.

Fair Use Ruling (June 23, 2025)

Judge William Alsup granted summary judgment for Anthropic on the training use and on converting purchased print copies to digital copies. He separately denied Anthropic’s request to treat pirated central-library copies as fair use. The authors had not moved for summary judgment; the order set the pirated-copy issues and damages for trial. It therefore did not enter a final infringement judgment for the authors.

Settlement and objections

The approved distribution plan divides each work’s recovery among copyright owners under applicable default splits or publishing agreements. The release covers listed works’ past inputs, excluding AI outputs and conduct on or after August 25, 2025.

Authors Alliance’s April 14 account catalogued objections about excluded foreign works, publisher-favoring allocations, notice, compensation, counsel conflicts and group registrations. These were objectors’ contentions. The July 20 order overruled the settlement objections. It allowed late opt-outs by Esquivel and Castells for excusable neglect while rejecting the other late requests.

On July 22, Bloomsbury Publishing said 14,087 of its titles appear on the court's settlement list. Bloomsbury said the proposed allocation is approximately $3,000 per work before fees and expenses, divided equally between the author and publisher, and that it expects payments to begin in the second half of its financial year.

Claim allocation disputes (September 4, 2026)

The Authors Guild reported competing author and publisher claims and acknowledged publisher allocation errors in settlement notices on September 4. It outlined a process of direct negotiation, administrator assistance and, if necessary, referral to a Special Master. This describes the Guild’s guidance, not an adjudication of individual claimants’ entitlements.

See Also

• Kadrey v Meta Platforms Inc
• Cases
• Copyright litigation

References