Editing Bartz v Anthropic PBC (section)

== Fair Use Ruling (June 23, 2025) ==

On June 23, 2025, Judge Alsup issued a landmark summary judgment order holding that Anthropic's use of legally acquired books (including digitization of purchased print copies) for LLM training was "quintessentially" or "exceedingly" transformative and constituted fair use under Section 107 of the Copyright Act.<ref name="afs-bartz" /><ref name="copyright-alliance">[https://copyrightalliance.org/participating-bartz-v-anthropic-settlement/ Copyright Alliance, "Participating in the Bartz v. Anthropic Settlement," 2026]</ref>

However, the court found that '''downloading and retaining pirated copies from LibGen/PiLiMi was infringing''', as it displaced market demand and was not excused by later transformative use. This dual ruling — transformative fair use for lawfully acquired training data, but infringement for pirated copies — established a critical precedent in AI copyright law.<ref name="afs-bartz" /><ref name="wk-bartz" />