Frequently Asked Questions

The Anthropic copyright settlement refers to the proposed class action settlement in Bartz v. Anthropic PBC, a lawsuit filed in the Northern District of California. The case alleged that Anthropic — the AI company behind the Claude large language model — unlawfully reproduced and used copyrighted books without authorization to train its AI systems.

The plaintiffs alleged that Anthropic downloaded and used approximately 400,000 copyrighted books from pirated datasets, including LibGen (Library Genesis) and PiLiMi, on or around August 10, 2022. These books were allegedly used as training data for Claude without the copyright holders' permission, in violation of the Copyright Act.

In 2025, the parties reached a proposed class action settlement valued at $1.5 billion. The settlement was preliminarily approved by the court, with a final approval hearing scheduled for April 22, 2026. Under the settlement, copyright holders whose books appear on the Anthropic Works List and who timely filed claims are entitled to a pro rata share of the settlement fund — after deduction of attorney fees, administrative costs, and other expenses.

The settlement does not require Anthropic to admit wrongdoing. It resolves the copyright infringement claims on behalf of the class members in exchange for a defined monetary payment.

The exact per-work payout depends on several variables that won't be finalized until after the April 22, 2026 final approval hearing and the completion of the claims review process.

Here's what we know: The fund: $1.5 billion total settlement value. Attorney fees: Originally requested at $375 million (25% of the fund). In a significant development on March 23, 2026, Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin slashed the fee request in half, awarding only $187.5 million (12.5%). This is excellent news for claimants — it means approximately $187.5 million more flows to authors than originally expected. Administrative costs: Settlement administration expenses will be deducted, typically a few million dollars. Remaining fund: Roughly $1.3 billion or more available for distribution to claimants. Number of claims: As of October 31, 2025 (the most recent data available), only approximately 58,788 works (about 12% of the ~490,000 eligible works) had valid claims filed. If this number holds, the per-work payout could be substantially higher than initially estimated. Based on these figures, individual works may receive between $1,500 and $5,600 — but the actual number could be higher if fewer claims are ultimately validated, or lower if more claims come in late or additional costs arise. Authors with many qualifying works could receive significantly larger total payments.

To determine if your book qualifies, it must meet all of the following criteria:

1. It appears on the Anthropic Works List. This is the official list of approximately 400,000 books identified as part of the LibGen and PiLiMi datasets that Anthropic downloaded on August 10, 2022. You can search this list using the tool at TrainedOnYou.com/check-your-works. 2. It has an ISBN or ASIN on file. Books are matched against the dataset using their International Standard Book Number (ISBN) or Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN). 3. It has a valid US Copyright Office registration. The settlement covers works that were registered with the US Copyright Office. This is the formal registration, not just the automatic copyright protection that attaches to all creative works. 4. You filed a claim before March 30, 2026. The claims submission deadline was March 30, 2026. If you (or your attorney or publisher) did not submit a claim by this date, you are generally excluded from the settlement distribution. 5. You are the copyright holder or an authorized representative. This includes authors, publishers who hold copyright, estates of deceased authors, and assignees who hold the copyright to qualifying works. If you're unsure whether a claim was filed for your works — for example, if a publisher or literary agent may have filed on your behalf — submit your details and we can help investigate.

Bartz v. Anthropic PBC is the formal name of the class action lawsuit that gave rise to the $1.5 billion copyright settlement. The case was filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California.

The lead plaintiffs were authors who alleged that Anthropic copied and used their copyrighted books without permission to train Claude, Anthropic's AI assistant. The complaint focused on a specific incident: Anthropic's alleged bulk download of the LibGen and PiLiMi datasets on August 10, 2022. LibGen (Library Genesis) is a well-known piracy website that hosts millions of copyrighted books; PiLiMi is a similar shadow library. The plaintiffs argued that by downloading these datasets and using the books as AI training data, Anthropic engaged in massive copyright infringement — reproducing protected works without licenses or compensation to the copyright holders. Judge changes: The case was originally before Judge William Alsup, known for his technical sophistication and skepticism of corporate defendants. However, in December 2025, Judge Alsup took inactive status and was replaced by Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin, who has presided over the case since then. Judge Martinez-Olguin will conduct the final approval hearing on April 22, 2026. Notable development: In December 2025, Judge Alsup's final memo in the case harshly criticized several "interloper" law firms that sought to claim additional fees from the class fund, calling their efforts inappropriate. Judge Martinez-Olguin subsequently slashed the total attorney fee award from $375 million to $187.5 million.

Yes. Selling or assigning your settlement claim is legal and increasingly common in class action settlements. This is known as "litigation finance" or "settlement claim assignment."

Here's how it works: You enter into an assignment-of-proceeds agreement with a litigation finance company like TrainedOnYou. Under this agreement, you transfer your right to receive the settlement distribution to us, in exchange for immediate cash payment. You keep the money we pay you regardless of what happens with the settlement — delays, appeals, or changes in per-work payment amounts are now our problem, not yours. What you're selling: The right to receive your settlement distribution payment. You are NOT transferring copyright ownership of your books. You still own your books. What you receive: Immediate cash — a competitive offer based on the estimated value of your qualifying works, paid within 5 business days. Legal considerations: Assignment-of-proceeds agreements are generally enforceable contracts. We recommend reviewing any agreement with your own attorney before signing. Our agreements are reviewed by independent legal counsel and written in plain language. Who can sell: Any eligible claimant — author, publisher, estate, or other rights-holder — who has a valid pending claim in the Bartz v. Anthropic settlement can sell their claim. You must have filed a claim before the March 30, 2026 deadline.

Settlement payments in Bartz v. Anthropic are structured as 4 separate installments, with the final payment not due until September 2027 at the earliest. Here's the full breakdown:

Installment 1 — $300M (already paid at preliminary approval, September 2025). Installment 2 — $300M due after final approval (~April/May 2026, assuming the hearing on April 22 goes smoothly). Installment 3 — $450M within 12 months of preliminary approval (by September 2026). Installment 4 — $450M within 24 months of preliminary approval (by September 2027). Important caveat: Installments 3 and 4 only accelerate if Anthropic completes a qualifying financing event ($5B+ valuation) or an IPO ($10B+ valuation). Without these events, you're waiting for the scheduled dates. Per-author payment timing: Individual payments are calculated by June 11, 2026 and distributed within 28 days of the effective date. But the full distribution — including installments 3 and 4 — runs through September 2027 or later. Bottom line: Final payment could be September 2027 or later. That's 1–2 years from now. This is exactly why many authors choose to sell their claims for immediate cash today rather than wait through multiple installments spanning years.

The Anthropic Works List is the official dataset of copyrighted books identified as part of the Bartz v. Anthropic class action settlement. It contains approximately 400,000 titles.

What it is: The Works List identifies the books that were allegedly part of the LibGen and PiLiMi datasets that Anthropic downloaded on August 10, 2022 and used to train its Claude AI models. Each entry in the Works List includes the book's ISBN(s) and/or ASIN(s), the identified title, the identified author(s), the copyright-registered title, the copyright-registered author(s), the copyright registration number, the identified publisher(s), the copyright-registered claimant(s), and whether the work is classified as an "Education Work." Why it matters: Only books that appear on the Works List are eligible for a settlement payment. If your book is not on the list, it is not covered by this settlement, regardless of whether it was copyrighted. The Education Work distinction: Some works are classified as "Education Work" — these are typically textbooks or academic titles. The settlement terms may treat education works differently in terms of per-work compensation. Searching the list: You can search our copy of the Works List at TrainedOnYou.com/check-your-works. We currently display a sample; the full 400,000-work dataset is being integrated.

Eligibility for the Bartz v. Anthropic settlement requires meeting several criteria. Here is a plain-language summary:

You must be a copyright holder or authorized representative. This includes: (1) authors who hold copyright to their works; (2) publishers who were assigned copyright by authors; (3) estates or heirs of deceased authors who held copyright; (4) other entities who legally hold copyright to qualifying works. Your works must appear on the Anthropic Works List. The Works List covers approximately 400,000 titles identified in the LibGen and PiLiMi datasets. If your books aren't on the list, you're not covered by this settlement. The works must be US copyright registered. Registration with the US Copyright Office (copyright.gov) is required. Note: works published before January 1, 1978, may have different registration requirements. You must have filed a timely claim. The claim submission deadline was March 30, 2026. Missing this deadline generally excludes you from the settlement. (However, courts sometimes allow late claims in exceptional circumstances — consult an attorney if you believe you have grounds.) You must not have opted out of the settlement. Several high-profile authors, including journalist John Carreyrou (author of Bad Blood), opted out of the settlement to pursue separate litigation. If you opted out, you are not covered by the settlement and cannot sell a settlement claim.

The April 22, 2026 final approval hearing is the critical event that will determine whether the $1.5 billion Bartz v. Anthropic settlement becomes binding.

What happens at the hearing: Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin will review the proposed settlement for fairness, reasonableness, and adequacy — the legal standard for class action settlements. She will consider: (1) objections filed by class members who oppose the settlement terms; (2) the attorney fee award (already reduced from $375M to $187.5M as of March 23, 2026); (3) whether the settlement provides adequate compensation relative to the claims; (4) the adequacy of class notice and the claims submission process. Possible outcomes: (1) Final approval — Judge Martinez-Olguin approves the settlement as proposed or with minor modifications. This is the most likely outcome given preliminary approval was already granted. (2) Conditional approval — she requests modifications to terms before approving. (3) Rejection — unlikely given the stage of the proceedings, but possible if serious fairness issues are identified. The opt-out context: Notably, journalist John Carreyrou and several other authors opted out of the settlement before the deadline, arguing the class action resolves claims "for pennies on the dollar" against not just Anthropic but also Google, OpenAI, Meta, xAI, and Perplexity. Their opt-out has fueled debate about whether the settlement is as favorable as it appears. What it means for you: If the settlement is approved on April 22, the claims review and distribution process begins. If it's rejected or significantly modified, there could be months or years of additional proceedings.

TrainedOnYou is an independent litigation finance company specializing in the purchase of AI copyright settlement claims. Here is what you should know before deciding to work with us:

What we are: A litigation finance company. This is a legitimate, regulated industry. Litigation finance — buying settlement claims and lawsuit proceeds from plaintiffs in exchange for immediate cash — is legal and common. Large litigation finance companies like Burford Capital and Bentham IMF do this at institutional scale. We operate in the same space, focused on the Anthropic settlement specifically. Attorney-reviewed process: Our assignment-of-proceeds agreements are reviewed by independent legal counsel before we send them to claimants. The agreements are written in plain language. What we ask of you: We ask for your name, contact information, information about your qualifying works, and confirmation of your claim status. We do NOT ask for your Social Security number, bank account credentials, or any sensitive financial data upfront. Payment information is only collected when we're ready to send you funds. What we are not: We are not affiliated with Anthropic PBC, the settlement administrator, or plaintiffs' counsel. We are not a law firm and we do not provide legal advice. We are not affiliated with any court or government body. Our recommendation: Before signing any assignment agreement, review it with your own attorney. The assignment-of-proceeds structure is straightforward, but any contract worth more than a few hundred dollars deserves legal review. We support this and will not pressure you to sign quickly.