3 Count: 120,000 Authors

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1: Thousands of Authors Seek Share of Anthropic Copyright Settlement

First off today, Blake Brittain at Reuters reports that nearly 120,000 authors have filed to receive their share of a $1.5 billion copyright settlement with Anthropic ahead of a hearing where a judge will decide whether to grant the deal final approval.

The authors filed the class action lawsuit in 2024 alleging that Anthropic used their work to train its AI models without permission. The court ruled that the training was fair use but that the use of pirated books was not. This resulted in a $1.5 billion settlement with authors slated to receive $3,000 per infringed work.

Now nearly 120,000 authors have filed to receive their share of that settlement. According to a court filing, that represents roughly 91% of the works at issue. The judge will decide whether to grant the deal final approval at a hearing next month.

2: Kraftwerk Lose Long-Running Copyright Dispute

Next up today, Christian Eede at The Quietus reports that Kraftwerk lost a long-running copyright infringement lawsuit against a producer who used a drum loop from the band’s music.

The case centers on a two-second drum loop from the 1977 Kraftwerk song Metall auf Metall. Producer Moses Pelham used the loop 20 years later in a song entitled Nur Mir for musician Sabrina Setlur.

The battle began all the way back in 1999 and has been heard before many different courts. However, now the European Court of Justice has ruled in favor of Pelham, saying that it was lawful under the “pastiche” exemption in EU copyright law.

3: WrestleMania 42 Clips Pulled From Social Media After Copyright Strikes Hit Videos

Finally today, Steve Carrier at Ringside News reports that WrestleMania 42 was held over the past weekend. However, fans posting clips of the event on social media are regularly being met with takedown notices and copyright strikes.

Users posting the clips to various social media platforms, in particular X (formerly Twitter), are having their content removed and replaced with a copyright notice.

This has sparked speculation that ESPN may be clamping down on the use clips from the event, something that was not as typical with past events.

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