Het verhaal
On 6 Sep 2026 TechCrunch reported that authors expecting payouts from Anthropic’s $1.5 billion copyright class-action settlement — finally approved in July after a fair-use ruling that still barred pirated training copies — are receiving notices that publishers or agents are claiming their share. Under the deal, authors of nearly 500,000 titles get about $3,000 per pirated work; in-print traditional books split 50/50 with the publisher, while self-published or rights-reverted titles should pay the author 100%. Writers (including April Henry vs HarperCollins) and Writers Beware’s Victoria Strauss describe two patterns: publishers claiming books whose rights reverted, and publishers seeking 100% when only entitled to half — often blamed on bad record-keeping, with some houses already asking Anthropic to fix mistakes. Authors Guild CEO Mary Rasenberger told the NYT she does not see a deliberate grab. Separately, authors say some literary agencies are claiming cuts despite not being rightsholders; Courtney Milan urged them to stop. Disputes hinge partly on whether rights reverted before the settlement’s 10 Aug 2022 “download date.”