Was that payout for the books it shredded?

Question

This isn't hypothetical. In 2025, Anthropic agreed to pay authors $1.5 billion — the largest copyright settlement in American history, about $3,100 per book. Here's the question everyone gets wrong:

Accepted Answer

Different books. The $1.5B was for roughly seven million PIRATED books downloaded from shadow libraries. The shredded books were bought legally — and Judge Alsup ruled that buy-scan-destroy is “transformative” fair use. Read that again: the blade was legal. The download wasn't. The internet is angry about the half the court blessed. (71% of Americans answer "The shredded ones" — floor est.)