🔍 Read the full analysis: The Pirated Books Question Hanging Over Anthropic’s IPO on ThorstenMeyerAI.com
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TL;DR
Anthropic filed to go public on October 27, 2026, while authors who opted out of a prior copyright settlement pursue new claims over allegedly pirated books. A 2025 court ruling found training on books was fair use but rejected keeping pirated copies; the later $1.5 billion settlement covered specified past claims. The new lawsuits remain unresolved, and Anthropic disputes wrongdoing.
Anthropic filed to go public on October 27 as new lawsuits from authors who opted out of an earlier copyright settlement keep questions about its use of pirated books in view. The disputes are not settled by the IPO filing: the new claims have not been decided, and the company denies wrongdoing.
The legal record draws a distinction between training on books and acquiring pirated copies. In a June 23, 2025 order in Bartz v. Anthropic, U.S. District Judge William Alsup found that training Claude on books was fair use. He also found that scanning books Anthropic had purchased was fair use. But he ruled that downloading pirated books and keeping them in a permanent library was not excused by fair use.
The order described more than seven million copies from Books3, Library Genesis and Pirate Library Mirror. It was a pretrial ruling, not a jury verdict on damages. The court accepted the authors’ account of the pirated-copy issue for purposes of the ruling; a jury was expected to consider remaining questions, but the case settled before trial.
Under a $1.5 billion settlement, approved in July 2026, eligible rights holders can be paid for roughly 500,000 registered books. The settlement covers specified past conduct and requires Anthropic to destroy the downloaded LibGen and PiLiMi books and copies, subject to legal-hold obligations. Anthropic represented in the settlement process that those datasets were not in the training corpus of any commercially released model, while the 2025 court record described portions of the collections as used to train some models. The distinction between the court record and the company’s representation remains central to the dispute.
From download to IPO
Five years, one ruling, no trial
The piracy happened in 2021 and 2022. The only ruling came in 2025. The new lawsuits are years away from a verdict.
- Jun 2021 · Jul 2022DownloadsAt least 5 million copies from LibGen (2021), at least 2 million from PiLiMi (2022); 196,640 from Books3 earlier.
- Aug 2024Bartz v. Anthropic filedThree authors sue Anthropic, on behalf of a class of book owners.
- 23 Jun 2025Judge Alsup's orderTraining on books: fair use. Scanning bought books: fair use. Pirated library copies: not fair use, to trial.
- Sep 2025$1.5 billion settlementNo trial. Anthropic denies wrongdoing; release covers conduct up to 25 Aug 2025 only.
- 13 + 15 May 2026Opt-out suitsCruz (28 plaintiffs) and Kwon (incl. Chang-rae Lee) join Cambronne and two publisher suits.
- Jul 2026Final approvalSettlement approved. Anthropic: no opt-out deal "above the Bartz claim value".
- 24 Sep 2026Motion to dismissAnthropic: claims too late, no infringing output shown, many works already released.
- 26–27 Oct 2026NowS-1 and the headlineIPO filing cites Bartz as a risk; The Stanford Daily names Stanford authors.
- 17 Dec 2026ScheduledHearingCourt hears the motion to dismiss.
- May 2027 · Jan 2028ScheduledDiscovery, then trial settingFact discovery closes 13 May 2027; trial-setting conference 11 Jan 2028.
Sources: Bartz v. Anthropic, order of 23 June 2025; settlement FAQ; joint case statement, 27 Aug 2026; Anthropic letter, 27 Jul 2026; case management order, 14 Sep 2026; Anthropic S-1, 26 Oct 2026; The Stanford Daily, 27 Oct 2026. Scheduled dates can move.
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Copyright Risk in the IPO Record
The lawsuits matter to prospective investors because they concern copyright exposure, legal costs and the limits of the settlement. The $1.5 billion agreement addresses claims by a defined group of rights holders over specified past conduct; it is not a broad license to use copyrighted books, nor does it resolve every author’s claim.
Authors who opted out are pursuing separate cases, so their claims will be assessed independently. The outcome could affect how courts evaluate claims involving training materials and what remedies authors may seek. At this stage, however, no ruling on the new cases establishes liability, and the IPO filing itself does not determine their outcome.
Viral summaries have also linked Anthropic’s filing to claims that Claude could become sentient or blackmail people. The cited S-1 language is more limited: it refers to behavior “resembling blackmail” in models and to public debate about sentience and existential risk. Those disclosures describe risks and concerns; they are not a finding that Claude is sentient or that it has blackmailed a person.
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From Bartz to Opt-Out Claims
Bartz v. Anthropic began in August 2024, when three authors sued the company. Judge Alsup’s June 2025 order separated the legal treatment of training from the acquisition and storage of copies. He wrote that training could be fair use, while describing the pirated library as a separate problem. The settlement later resolved covered claims without a jury trial on damages.
The settlement process did not include every author. Those who opted out could bring their own cases, and new suits were filed in 2026. The Stanford Daily reported that books by several Stanford-affiliated authors were among the pirated copies, including works by Tobias Wolff and Abraham Verghese. That list has not been independently verified against the settlement database in the source material. A related case names author Chang-rae Lee as a plaintiff; the reporting source said it could not find Wolff among the plaintiffs listed in five related cases as of August 2026.
The Stanford Daily’s headline said Anthropic “illegally trained” on professors’ books. That wording compresses two distinct findings: Alsup said training on books was fair use, while finding the pirated downloads and permanent library were not. The distinction is material when describing what the court ruled and what remains alleged in later cases.
““neither the LibGen or PiLiMi datasets, nor any portions of those datasets, were in the training corpus of any of its commercially released large language models.””
— Anthropic, as described in the settlement materials
Claims Still Awaiting Court Review
No judge has ruled on the new 2026 lawsuits, and the claims have not been resolved. A hearing on Anthropic’s motion to dismiss is scheduled for December 17, 2026. Whether the cases proceed, what evidence they will present and how a court might assess the claims remain open questions.
The scope of the reported book lists also needs care. The source material says it did not verify the Stanford Daily’s list against the settlement database, and it could not confirm Wolff’s presence among plaintiffs in the related cases it reviewed as of August 2026. Anthropic’s representation about commercially released models and the descriptions in the 2025 record are not identical statements; the available material does not explain that difference in enough detail to resolve it.
December Hearing and IPO Disclosures
The next scheduled court milestone is the December 17 hearing on Anthropic’s motion to dismiss. The judge’s decision could determine whether some or all of the new claims continue, but it will not by itself settle every factual dispute or establish damages.
Readers and investors can also watch for further IPO disclosures about litigation, potential liabilities and risk factors, alongside updates in the author cases. Until courts act, the distinction remains: a prior order found training fair use but rejected the pirated library, a settlement resolved specified past claims, and the opt-out lawsuits are still pending.
Key Questions
Did a court rule that Anthropic illegally trained Claude on books?
No. In June 2025, Judge William Alsup found that training Claude on books was fair use. He separately ruled that downloading pirated copies to build a permanent library was not excused by fair use.
What did Anthropic agree to pay in the settlement?
The settlement approved in July 2026 is $1.5 billion for eligible rights holders connected to roughly 500,000 registered books. It covers specified past claims, not every possible copyright claim.
Have the authors’ new lawsuits been decided?
No. The claims by authors who opted out of the settlement remain pending. A hearing on Anthropic’s motion to dismiss is scheduled for December 17, 2026.
Does Anthropic’s IPO filing say Claude is sentient or blackmails people?
The source material says the S-1 does not make those claims. It describes model behavior “resembling blackmail” and discusses debate about sentience and existential risks as potential concerns.
Source: ThorstenMeyerAI.com
