Overview

• Anthropic and the plaintiffs told the court they have negotiated a proposed class settlement, with terms undisclosed and final papers expected around Sept. 3.
• Judge William Alsup’s June decision found training on lawfully purchased books to be fair use but left claims over downloading and storing pirated copies for trial.
• The certified class could encompass roughly seven million works allegedly pulled from shadow libraries including LibGen, Books3, and Pirate Library Mirror.
• Potential statutory damages of up to $150,000 per willful infringement created exposure in the billions, pressuring a deal ahead of the December piracy trial.
• A Sept. 8 hearing will consider preliminary approval, with administrative deadlines such as the Sept. 1 list of affected works still in place as parallel AI copyright suits proceed.