Wow. The Bartz Class Counsel just filed their Motion for Final Approval of Settlement.
The numbers are impressive. According to Class Counsel:
- 264,809 Works [out of 482,460 Works], representing 54% of the Works List were subject to claims under the settlement.
- That participation rate has more than quadrupled from the 12% (58,788) on Oct. 31, 2025.
- Class Notice: 506,194 potential Class Members were sent notice not returned as undeliverable, representing 99.5% of the Works on the Works list.
- Less than 0.5% of the works (or only 350) were subject to opt outs from the class.
These percentages are based on works in the class, not based on claimants. But the participation rate is very impressive. In fact, because one person could own copyrights to several works or more, the participation rate or percentage based on claimant or author is potentially even higher than 54%.
Based on my prior research, I researched some class participation rates from other areas of law. And it looks like the participation rates vary dramatically depending on the nature of the lawsuit.
- Consumer class actions: median rate of 9% (per FTC survey)
- Facebook data privacy class action: 22% (*per Law36 but unclear how this % was compauted) (about 28 million made claims per Kiplinger)
- 3M Combat Earplugs Settlement mass torts/personal injury: 99% (or 250,000 claimants) (per 3M)
- Securities class action: under 1% to below 10% (per Mayer Brown study)
- Others
According to 2 McLaughlin on Class Actions s. 6:24 (Oct. 2024 update): “Claims-made settlements typically have a participation rate in the 10–15 percent range. Indeed, in the consumer class action context a claim participation rate as low as 3 percent is not unusual and does not suggest that the settlement is inadequate or unfair.”
Excerpt:
DOWNLOAD THE MOTION FOR FINAL APPROVAL