Just a reminder: if your book or books are included in the $1.5 billion Anthropic copyright settlement, the deadline to file a claim is fast approaching: March 30, 2026.
Relevant resources:
- My backgrounder on the settlement: how it came about, what it involves, and what it means for authors.
- The settlement website, which includes key deadlines (all of which, other than the claims filing deadline, have now passed), important documents, and a comprehensive FAQ.
- The master list of eligible works; you can look yourself/your books up here to find out if you’re included.
- The online claim form that you’ll need to file in order to receive a payout (currently estimated at just over $3,000 per work, which you may or may not have to split with your publisher, if you have one).
A note for Amazon Publishing authors like myself: Amazon will not be a claimant, and is assigning all rights of recovery to authors–i.e., if you’re an APub author, you don’t have to split your payout with your publisher. You can download the assignment letter–which can be included with your claim, or submitted to amend your claim if you’ve already filed it–here.
What’s next?
A Final Approval Hearing is scheduled for April 23, 2026 (though that date may well change). This is the final hearing to approve the settlement, which can’t take effect until the court has officially signed off. Class members, including anyone who objects to the settlement, can request permission to speak at the hearing.
Per the court docket, a number of objections and comments have been filed (under seal, so they’re not publicly viewable). Resolving these could take considerable time.
When Will Class Members Receive Payment?
All objections and disputes must be resolved before the settlement can be finalized and payouts disbursed, which could substantially extend the date of final approval. Right now, the FAQ estimates an initial payout date of August 10, 2026, but I would not advise anyone to hold their breath.
An Interesting Tidbit
If you’re a Writer Beware regular, you may remember my post about ClaimsHero, a third-party filer that specializes in recruiting claimants in class action lawsuits and filing individual claims on their behalf en masse (on the theory that individual lawsuits are easier to file than class actions, while blasting them out in big groups exerts similar pressure on defendants).
Back in November, ClaimsHero was running a highly deceptive ad campaign urging Anthropic class members to let it represent them, but not making clear that doing so would opt them out of the settlement. ClaimsHero got thoroughly smacked down by the judge in the case, and was forced to back off the ads and change the information on its website.
It’s still causing trouble for class members, though. It’s now recruiting for third party filings against other AI companies, and it is still aggressively soliciting class members, using the master list of eligible works to identify them (you may have received one or more of these solicitations; I’ve gotten several myself). This has, understandably, caused confusion, and class counsel is requesting that the settlement website FAQ be amended to clarify that ClaimsHero has nothing to do with the settlement.
Watch for an upcoming blog post on this subject.
I’m a retired Federal Special Agent and Certified Fraud Investigator. In retirement I use Writer Beware and other sources to help authors like my wife.
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Thank you WB for your timely and reliable information.
Thank _you_! I’m so happy you’ve found WB useful. (And you can always email me if you’re researching a person or company you can’t find on the blog.)
Thank you so much for this. Didn’t know it was even happening. Found one of my books on the list and filed a claim.
I filed a claim a while back. Is there a way to verify it is still in the queue? Thanks!
You should have received an acknowledgement from the settlement administrator, with an ID number for your claim. There isn’t any way to look filed claims up on the settlement website, but as long as you got the acknowledgment, I think you can be confident you’re in the queue.
I am amazed how easy it must be to get my information and then sent stuff I , in the past, showed a passing interest in. I won’t go into a lengthy story about because I aknow I am not alone in this.
Once again, thank you and your staff for the excellent information you provide to people who simply think that they have a story worth sharing. but don’t want some crook to take advantage of them for money. How sad.