Overview

• U.S. District Judge William Alsup found that using copyrighted books to train Anthropic’s Claude AI model is a transformative use protected by fair use.
• Alsup ruled that Anthropic’s downloading and permanent storage of over seven million pirated book copies in a central library falls outside fair use and constitutes infringement.
• The court scheduled a December trial to assess damages for the unauthorized pirated library, with potential statutory awards of up to $150,000 per work.
• Anthropic’s later purchase of legally digitized copies will not bar liability for earlier piracy but may influence the extent of statutory damages.
• The decision sets a precedent by distinguishing lawful AI training from unlawful content storage and is poised to guide similar lawsuits against other AI developers.