Publishers appeal fee ruling in Anthropic book-piracy suit
The Publishers’ Coordination Counsel has filed a notice of appeal to the Ninth Circuit challenging the denial of its attorneys’ fee award in the Bartz v. Anthropic settlement, per Chat GPT Is Eating the World, which obtained the filing. The appeal covers only the fee and service awards; the settlement’s payout schedule to class members is unaffected.
Why it matters: The appeal is confined to fee allocation, not the settlement's terms, so the case's precedent for AI training on pirated books stands regardless of how it's resolved.
The record: AnthropicAI training & copyright litigation
Via Chat GPT Is Eating the World ↗
Posted to the wire August 18, 2026.