Harry Potter publisher secures major payout in historic AI copyright case

British publishing giant Bloomsbury, the publisher of many famed works of literature including J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, is set to receive a multimillion-dollar payout as part of a record $1.5 billion copyright settlement reached between AI startup Anthropic and hundreds of thousands of authors over the unauthorized use of copyrighted works.

The settlement, described as the largest recovery ever in a US copyright infringement case, stems from allegations that Anthropic used pirated copies of books to train its Claude family of artificial intelligence models, as British media recalls.

Bloomsbury said it had 14,087 titles included in the settlement and is expected to receive compensation of approximately $3,000 per title. The London-based publisher said payments are likely to begin in installments during the second half of its current fiscal year, with proceeds shared between the company and its authors.

After deducting roughly 10% for legal fees and other expenses, Bloomsbury and its participating authors are expected to receive approximately $19 million.

The case highlights one of the most contentious legal issues facing the rapidly expanding AI industry. Companies developing generative AI systems train their models on vast amounts of online data, including copyrighted books, news articles, and other creative works.

Unlike broader lawsuits challenging the use of copyrighted material for AI training, this case focused specifically on Anthropic's alleged use of pirated digital copies of protected works rather than lawfully obtained publications.

US-based AI companies have generally argued that training AI models on copyrighted material is permitted under the legal doctrine of fair use, which allows limited use of protected works without permission under certain circumstances. Authors, publishers, and other creative professionals, however, have increasingly called on AI developers to obtain licenses or compensate rights holders for using their work.

US District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín, who oversaw the case, said the agreement provides “meaningful relief” for affected authors and publishers.

The lawsuit was originally filed in 2024 by American novelist Andrea Bartz and two other authors. According to court filings, approximately 91% of the 482,000 works covered by the settlement have now been claimed.

By Nazrin Sadigova