Authors in Anthropic’s $1.5 billion copyright settlement are clearing $3,000 each. Their lawyers want $320 million.
US District Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin declined to finalize what’s regarded as the largest copyright settlement in US history on Thursday, ordering counsel to address objections before she’ll sign off. Claims cover 92% of the more than 480,000 works included in the deal.
The numbers are ugly. Objector Pierce Story calculated that the $320M ask breaks down to $10,000–$12,000 per hour for attorneys, even accounting for future work. He cited a T-Mobile case where the 8th Circuit said no reasonable class member would willingly pay $7,000–$9,500 per hour, a lower bar than what Anthropic’s lawyers are seeking. Story argues a $70M counsel payout, which he calls still generous, would yield a nearly 25% increase in author compensation.
He also accuses attorneys of breaking a promise to tie fees to actual claimant participation: many eligible authors haven’t registered, so they won’t be compensated.
The process has gotten messy. Counsel tried to exclude some objections from the record and mislabeled two female objectors’ names in the same filing. One objector’s claims were previously docketed, then counsel denied they’d ever been submitted.
Twenty-five class members also opted out and filed a new lawsuit separately, meaning Anthropic isn’t done defending this.
Authors must respond to objections by May 21. That’s the same day Anthropic must explain why late opt-outs shouldn’t be honored. If terms don’t change, objectors have warned the settlement may not survive appeal.
— Nathan Zakhary