Anthropic’s $1.5B copyright settlement is getting messy as judge delays approval

Lawyers accused of rushing historic settlement to seize $320 million in fees. After several authors and class members raised objections to Anthropic’s $1.5 billion settlement over its widespread book piracy to train AI, a federal judge has delayed final approvals of the settlement. On Thursday, US District Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin declined to rubber-stamp what’s regarded as the largest copyright settlement in US history.

Instead, she wanted to better understand why some class members were objecting and opting out of the settlement. So, she asked authors to address key concerns of objectors, who argued that lawyers’ compensation was way too high and payments to class members were a “pittance.” Ars reviewed several objections to the settlement, as well as letters from objectors who claimed that the authors’ legal team was trying to unfairly shut them out from voicing concerns. Calling out lawyers for requesting more than $320 million in legal fees when each author only expects a $3,000 payout, some objectors asked the court to delay approving the settlement until a more reasonable plaintiff compensation plan is constructed. “Every dollar that Counsel takes from the Settlement fund is one that is not given to those actually harmed,” wrote Pierce Story , an objector and author of two works covered by the settlement. To support his arguments against the eye-popping lawyer fees, Story estimated that the large payout could break down to lawyers receiving between roughly $10,000–$12,000 per hour, which he said included a generous estimate of hours for any future work. That’s excessive, Story suggested, citing a T-Mobile case where the 8th Circuit court observed that “no reasonable class member would willingly pay” a much lower requested fee award between $7,000–$9,500. Story accused lawyers of breaking a promise to tie their compensation to member payouts. And he’s further frustrated that the compensation they’re seeking is tied to the full settlement fund, when many authors entitled to compensation have yet to register and “are unlikely to be compensated.” An attorney for authors confirmed on Thursday that “authors and other copyright holders filed claims covering over 92% of the more than 480,000 works included in the settlement.” But objectors maintain that lawyers’ pay should reflect the total number of claimants, not the total amount in the settlement fund. By urging the court to make “reasonable and fair adjustments” to lower attorney fees, Story is hoping to increase compensation to authors. Offering an example, he noted that “a still-generous Counsel payout of $70 million would yield a nearly 25 percent increase in individual Plaintiff awards, while Counsel would still receive the equivalent of their current top rates” for hours worked. To Story, it also seemed like the attorneys could’ve gotten more compensation for authors, but instead of pursuing “creative options,” they “settled far too quickly to maximize” their own compensation. “Were the attorneys as skilled, gritty, and brilliant as they profess, and were the Settlement the ‘home run’ Counsel claims it to be, Plaintiffs would receive more than this pittance,” Story said.

Key points

• Instead, she wanted to better understand why some class members were objecting and opting out of the settlement.
• So, she asked authors to address key concerns of objectors, who argued that lawyers’ compensation was way too high and payments to class members were a “pittance.” Ars reviewed several objections t…
• Calling out lawyers for requesting more than $320 million in legal fees when each author only expects a $3,000 payout, some objectors asked the court to delay approving the settlement until a more…
• “Every dollar that Counsel takes from the Settlement fund is one that is not given to those actually harmed,” wrote Pierce Story , an objector and author of two works covered by the settlement.
• To support his arguments against the eye-popping lawyer fees, Story estimated that the large payout could break down to lawyers receiving between roughly $10,000–$12,000 per hour, which he said inc…