"Earlier this summer, a federal court in California issued a major ruling in Bartz v. Anthropic, one of the copyright class action lawsuits involving AI. The court held that a trial should occur over whether Anthropic’s downloading of millions of books from the pirate websites Library Genesis (“LibGen”) and Pirate Library Mirror (“PiLiMi”) infringed the rights of copyright holders. (It also held that Anthropic’s use of books to train AI was fair use, a holding with which the Authors Guild disagrees.) On July 17, the court certified a class comprised of legal and beneficial owners of the rights in copyright-registered books downloaded by Anthropic from these sites.

"It is important to remember that this case is a class action, a special kind of lawsuit allowed under federal law to address the claims of a large group commonly harmed by a defendant’s conduct. Here, the conduct at issue is Anthropic’s mass downloading and retention of books from pirate websites.

"The Authors Guild is helping to coordinate publicity about the class action through various other creators’ groups to make sure that all authors whose books were illegally downloaded by Anthropic are notified. 

"You do not need to do anything to be a member of the class. But to help ensure that you receive notices relating to your participation in the suit (including the opportunity to opt out of it), you should provide your current contact information and book titles to the court-appointed class counsel at the class action website."