Authors Push Back as Publishers and Agents Make Claims on Anthropic Settlement

Authors expecting payouts from Anthropic's $1.5 billion copyright settlement are finding publishers and literary agents staking claims on their money. Under the deal, authors receive $3,000 per pirated title, split 50-50 with publishers for in-print works. But complaints are mounting that publishers are claiming rights they no longer hold, and agents — who are not rightsholders — are also seeking percentages.

"The unusually large number of reports I've received over the last two days, as well as the fact that authors are reporting the exact same errors over and over, suggest to me that these aren't the kind of routine glitches you might expect from such a large operation, but something much more widespread and systemic." — Victoria Strauss, Writers Beware