Category: Judge Alsup

Judge Alsup quickly grants expedited hearing for Nov. 13, 8 AM, subject to service on ClaimsHero.

Judge Alsup wasted no time in granting the Class Counsel for the Bartz book authors’ motion for an expedited hearing. Judge Alsup set the in-person hearing for Nov. 13, 8 AM, in San Francisco. The order is subject to Class Counsel serving the relevant papers on ClaimsHero. The attorneys for ClaimsHero better be prepared. Expect…
Read more: Judge Alsup quickly grants expedited hearing for Nov. 13, 8 AM, subject to service on ClaimsHero.
Bartz book authors face new foe: ClaimsHero firm seeking to represent book authors who opt out. Bartz asks Judge Alsup for expedited hearing on Nov. 12, 2025.

The Bartz book authors, who were successful in securing a $1.5 billion settlement in their copyright suit against Anthropic, now face a new foe: an Arizona based firm called ClaimsHero, which touts itself as “a platform and law firm dedicated to helping individuals seamlessly collect what’s theirs.“ On its website, ClaimsHero tracks class actions, especially…
Read more: Bartz book authors face new foe: ClaimsHero firm seeking to represent book authors who opt out. Bartz asks Judge Alsup for expedited hearing on Nov. 12, 2025.
Bartz book authors seek order from Judge Alsup v. allegedly misleading overture by ClaimsHero firm to opt out of class

Judge Alsup issued an order last night expressing concerns with some changes to the class notice made by Class Counsel in Bartz v. Anthropic. But that wasn’t even the big news. After that order, the Bartz book authors, through Class Counsel, filed a motion for Judge Alsup to issue an order limiting the overtures that…
Read more: Bartz book authors seek order from Judge Alsup v. allegedly misleading overture by ClaimsHero firm to opt out of class
Bartz status report: received claims for 58,788 out of 482,460 works (12.2%). Asks for Theo Cheng to be special master instead of Naomi Jane Gray.

The Bartz Class Counsel filed a status report late Friday. Two items to note: (1) So far, 58,788 out of 482,460 works (12.2%) have been subject to claims for the payout. UPDATE: I have done further research with comparison to participation rates in other cases. 12% participation rate is a decent, respectable start, already within…
Read more: Bartz status report: received claims for 58,788 out of 482,460 works (12.2%). Asks for Theo Cheng to be special master instead of Naomi Jane Gray.
Judge Alsup issues opinion on preliminary approval of class action settlement in Bartz v. Anthropic. Naomi Jane Gray to be appointed special master for disputes over settlement claims. Payout increased to $3,100 per book.

Judge Alsup has issued his formal opinion in Bartz v. Anthropic preliminarily approving the $1.5 class action settlement between the Bartz book author class and Anthropic. (The Judge had preliminarily approved the settlement orally at the hearing on September 25.) Two new things: (1) “Because 482,460 works were finally identified, not 500,000, the total per…
Read more: Judge Alsup issues opinion on preliminary approval of class action settlement in Bartz v. Anthropic. Naomi Jane Gray to be appointed special master for disputes over settlement claims. Payout increased to $3,100 per book.
The Fair Use Triangle: state of fair use in AI training 2025. No more decisions until mid to late 2026.

Now we know that we won’t have any new decisions on fair use in AI training from other district court judges until mid-2026 at the earliest, let’s take stock of where things stand. 3 Decisions on Fair Use in AI Training: 2 decisions for fair use and 1 against It’s fair (no pun intended) to…
Read more: The Fair Use Triangle: state of fair use in AI training 2025. No more decisions until mid to late 2026.
Bartz v. Anthropic notice of compliance with Judge Alsup’s directives. Ask to change final approval hearing date to April 23, 2026

The parties in the Bartz v. Anthropic case filed their notice of compliance with the instructions Judge Alsup gave at the hearing for preliminary approval of the class settlement. They also asked to change the date of the hearing for final approval to one more day from the original date, so on April 23, 2026.…
Read more: Bartz v. Anthropic notice of compliance with Judge Alsup’s directives. Ask to change final approval hearing date to April 23, 2026
Andrea Bartz declares victory, issues warning to AI companies in NYT: “I Beat the Anthropic AI Chatbot That Stole My Book”

Andrea Bartz, the lead plaintiff in the class action copyright lawsuit against Anthropic, wrote an Opinion piece in the New York Times, hailing the $1.5 billion settlement the court just approved. Bartz attacks Big Tech companies and sends an ominous warning of book authors waging copyright wars “for years to come.” This settlement sends a…
Read more: Andrea Bartz declares victory, issues warning to AI companies in NYT: “I Beat the Anthropic AI Chatbot That Stole My Book”
Judge Alsup grants preliminary approval of $1.5 billion settlement, largest in copyright history, in class action filed by Bartz v. Anthropic.

According to Annelise Levy of Bloomberg Law, Judge Alsup just approved the $1.5 billion class action settlement, the largest ever for a copyright lawsuit. The Judge called it “fair,” which is required under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(e)(2) (“fair, reasonable, and adequate”). Justin Nelson, the lead plaintiffs’ attorney from Susman Godfrey, reportedly described the…
Read more: Judge Alsup grants preliminary approval of $1.5 billion settlement, largest in copyright history, in class action filed by Bartz v. Anthropic.
Parties in Bartz v. Anthropic answer Judge Alsup’s 34 questions in 50 pages

50 pages. It took 50 pages for the parties in Bartz v. Anthropic to answer the 34 highly detailed questions Judge Alsup instructed them to answer. Judge Alsup had picked apart the proposed settlement process in those 34 questions. Tomorrow is the hearing on the motion for preliminary approval of the class settlement. Let’s see…
Read more: Parties in Bartz v. Anthropic answer Judge Alsup’s 34 questions in 50 pages