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US judge pauses Anthropic $1.5 billion author settlement demanding answers on fees and payouts
International
Published on 15 May 2026
Judge delays approval over lawyers fees and lead payouts
A US federal judge has delayed final approval of Anthropic’s proposed $1.5 billion settlement with authors over alleged book piracy used to train its Claude AI. At a hearing in San Francisco, Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin asked lawyers for more details, particularly around attorney fees and payments to lead plaintiffs, calling the deal the largest known US copyright settlement. Earlier, now-retired Judge William Alsup found fair use but said Anthropic violated rights by storing over 7 million pirated books.
- Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin sought more details before approving the deal
- The proposed settlement totals $1.5 billion, the largest known US copyright settlement
- Objections focus on whether authors receive enough and on attorney fees
- Lead claims covered works representing over 92% of 480,000 included titles
- Alsup previously found fair use but flagged rights violations from storing 7+ million books
- Some authors opted out and filed a new complaint this week
Read the full story at The Economic Times
This summarization was done by Beige for a story published on 
The Economic Times