As the only association devoted solely to supporting and advocating for the interests of textbook and academic authors, TAA represents not only its nearly 3,600 author-members, but thousands more. In the historic ruling for U.S. copyright holders in the case of Bartz v. Anthropic, in which the court awarded $1.5 billion to authors and publishers whose books were pirated by Anthropic to train its large language models (LLMs), educational/textbook and university press/academic authors represent almost half of the close to 500,000 works infringed in the class.

At a September 25, 2025 hearing, attended by TAA Executive Director Kim Pawlak, TAA Board Treasurer and mathematics textbook author Michael Sullivan, and TAA Board Member and Intellectual Property Attorney Brenda Ulrich, the court granted preliminary approval of the settlement agreement proposed by the plaintiffs, which outlined the claims process for authors and publishers.

The settlement includes a default 50-50 split for university press authors. “TAA played an instrumental role in negotiating a 50-50 default split on behalf of university press authors, said Pawlak. “We view this as a fair and equitable division of the settlement proceeds between that class of authors and publishers in the case.” University press authors who believe they should receive more than 50% can submit a claim for a higher amount along with supporting clauses from their contracts. Those claims will be reviewed by a special master assigned by the court.

Each publisher-author of the works included in the plaintiffs’ class will split roughly $3,000 for each infringed work, with the share paid to each based on the terms of the settlement agreement. A list of the works included in the case has been compiled by plaintiffs’ attorneys, and a searchable database is being created so that authors and publishers will be able to search for their works by author name, title, and ISBN. Only works included in the database are part of the settlement.

Rather than a 50-50 default split, as was agreed to between the other authors and publishers in the class, the court approved a separate claims process for determining the split between educational/textbook authors and publishers. This approach reflected the court’s concern that settlement proceeds be split in accordance with the terms of existing publishing agreements, and the greater variety of arrangements found in educational/textbook contracts. TAA will be sharing more information with educational/textbook authors on how they can navigate the claims process.

Said Sullivan, mathematics textbook author with 14 textbooks currently in print: “I am grateful to TAA for working diligently on behalf of textbook authors like myself to ensure we were represented in the class settlement.”

TAA released this statement following the September 25 hearing:

“Artificial intelligence poses a special threat to textbook and academic authors, who have throughout modern history been creators and custodians of the actual, human intelligence that is necessary to defend against the excesses, errors, and unintended consequences of overreliance on new technologies. The piracy of academic works and textbooks, which have shaped society by supporting the growth and development of generations through scholarly advancement and pedagogically sound educational materials, warrants the largest class action copyright settlement in history. We are hopeful that our legal system will provide protection to authors, where ethics and fairness have often failed.

The settlement is not enough. Textbook authors, in particular, continue to be in a pitched battle with certain educational publishers who refuse to negotiate fairly or honor prior commitments. The Textbook and Academic Authors Association has worked hard to support these authors, educate them about their rights, and provide support to them in their efforts to obtain a fair shake from these publishing relationships. We will continue to do so. While this settlement will not realign the relationship between publishers and authors, it is crucial that we send a united message—from authors and publishers alike—that we will not stand by while our work is stolen. In that respect, the $1.5 billion penalty on Anthropic serves its purpose, delivers that warning, and the settlement is a victory.”