内容来源：https://www.wired.com/story/anthropic-settles-copyright-lawsuit-authors/

内容总结：

人工智能公司Anthropic近日就一起重大版权集体诉讼达成初步和解，这起被业界视为"史上最重要AI版权争议"的案件出现重大转折。根据周二公布的法律文件，和解协议预计于9月3日正式生效，具体条款尚未披露。原告律师与Anthropic公司均拒绝置评。

本案源于2024年三位知名作家安德烈娅·巴茨、查尔斯·格雷伯和柯克·华莱士·约翰逊提起的诉讼，指控Anthropic未经授权使用其作品训练AI模型。虽然加州法院6月裁定该公司对作品的使用属于"合理使用"，但法官同时认定其通过"影子图书馆"（包括知名盗版网站LibGen）获取作品的行为构成侵权，允许作家们以盗版为由提起集体诉讼。

根据美国版权法，每部被侵权作品的法定赔偿起价为750美元。由于Anthropic使用的图书库包含约700万部作品，公司可能面临超万亿美元的天价赔偿。圣克拉拉大学法学教授爱德华·李指出："尽管Anthropic组建了新律师团队积极应诉，但鉴于法官已作出侵权认定，他们在审判中缺乏有效辩护依据。"

值得关注的是，多数符合集体诉讼资格的作家刚刚开始收到参与通知。作家行业组织"作者协会"本月才向会员发出警示，原定9月1日向法院提交"受影响作品清单"。这意味着大多数作者并未参与和解谈判进程。康奈尔大学数字法学教授詹姆斯·格里梅尔曼表示："和解条款公布后作者群体是否会出现大规模反对浪潮，这将成衡量版权所有者态度的关键指标。"

尽管本案和解不会形成法律先例，但其处理方案仍将受到司法界密切关注——目前仍有数十起针对AI公司的重大版权诉讼正在审理中，其中包括环球音乐等大型唱片公司指控Anthropic非法使用版权歌词训练AI的新诉讼，原告方近期还追加指控该公司通过BitTorrent非法下载歌曲。

中文翻译：

人工智能公司Anthropic就一批知名作家提起的集体诉讼达成初步和解，这桩史上最受关注的AI版权官司由此出现重大转折。此举将使Anthropic免于在法庭上遭遇可能是毁灭性的财务后果。

根据8月27日公布的一份法庭文件，和解协议预计将于9月3日敲定，更多细节将陆续公布。原告律师没有立即回应置评请求。Anthropic拒绝置评。

2024年，三名图书作家安德烈娅·巴茨、查尔斯·格雷伯和柯克·华莱士·约翰逊起诉Anthropic，指控这家初创公司非法使用他们的作品来训练其人工智能模型。今年6月，加州地方法院法官威廉·阿尔苏普对"巴茨诉Anthropic案"作出即决判决，主要支持Anthropic，认定该公司对图书的使用属于"合理使用"，因而合法。

但法官裁定，Anthropic通过所谓影子图书馆（包括一个名为LibGen的知名网站）下载部分作品的行为构成盗版。阿尔苏普裁定，图书作者仍可以盗版其作品为由对Anthropic提起集体诉讼；这场法律对决原定于12月开始。

根据美国版权法，此类盗版行为的法定赔偿金为每部侵权作品至少750美元。由于Anthropic积累的图书库被认为包含约700万部作品，这家AI公司可能面临法院判处的数十亿美元罚款，甚至可能超过1万亿美元。

密切关注AI版权诉讼的圣克拉拉大学法学教授爱德华·李表示："这是一个惊人的转折，考虑到Anthropic在这起案件的两个法院中是如何拼命斗争的。而且该公司最近聘请了一个新的审判团队。但鉴于阿尔苏普法官的裁决，他们在审判中的辩护余地很小。因此Anthropic一开始就面临着'世界末日'般的法定赔偿金风险。"

大多数可能参与集体诉讼的作者才刚刚开始收到他们有资格参与的通知。代表专业作家的贸易组织美国作家协会本月早些时候发布通知，提醒作者他们可能符合条件，原告律师原定于9月1日向法院提交"受影响作品清单"。这意味着许多作者并不知情正在进行的谈判。

康奈尔大学数字与互联网法教授詹姆斯·格里梅尔曼表示："最大的问题是，和解条款公布后，作者阶层内部是否会出现大规模反对。这将是衡量版权所有者情绪的一个非常重要的指标。"

Anthropic仍面临许多其他与版权相关的法律挑战。其中最引人注目的争议涉及包括环球音乐集团在内的一些主要唱片公司，这些公司指控Anthropic在受版权保护的歌词上非法训练其AI程序。原告最近申请修改诉讼，指控Anthropic使用点对点文件共享服务BitTorrent非法下载歌曲。

和解不会开创法律先例，但随着其他数十起备受关注的AI版权案件在法院继续审理，此案的细节可能会受到密切关注。

英文来源：

Anthropic has reached a preliminary settlement in a class action lawsuit brought by a group of prominent authors, marking a major turn in of the most significant ongoing AI copyright lawsuits in history. The move will allow Anthropic to avoid what could have been a financially devastating outcome in court.
The settlement agreement is expected to be finalized September 3, with more details to follow, according to a legal filing published on Tuesday. Lawyers for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Anthropic declined to comment.
In 2024, three book writers, Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber, and Kirk Wallace Johnson, sued Anthropic, alleging that the startup illegally used their work to train its artificial intelligence models. In June, California district court judge William Alsup issued a summary judgment in Bartz v. Anthropic that largely sided with Anthropic, finding that the company’s usage of the books was “fair use” and thus legal.
But the judge ruled that the manner in which Anthropic had acquired some of the works, by downloading them through so-called shadow libraries, including a notorious site called LibGen, constituted piracy. Alsup ruled that the book authors could still take Anthropic to trial in a class action for pirating their works; the legal showdown was slated to begin in December.
Statutory damages for this kind of piracy start at $750 per infringed work, according to US copyright law. Because the library of books amassed by Anthropic was thought to contain approximately 7 million works, the AI company was potentially facing court-imposed penalties amounting to billions, possibly more than $1 trillion dollars.
“It’s a stunning turn of events, given how Anthropic was fighting tooth and nail in two courts in this case. And the company recently hired a new trial team,” says Edward Lee, a law professor at Santa Clara University who closely follows AI copyright litigation. “But they had few defenses at trial, given how Judge Alsup ruled. So Anthropic was starting at the risk of statutory damages in ‘doomsday’ amounts.”
Most authors who may have been part of the class action were just starting to receive notice that they qualified to participate. The Authors Guild, a trade group representing professional writers, sent out a notice alerting authors that they might be eligible earlier this month, and lawyers for the plaintiffs were scheduled to submit a “list of affected works” to the court on September 1. This means that many of these writers were not privy to the negotiations that took place.
“The big question is whether there is a significant revolt from within the author class after the settlement terms are unveiled,” says James Grimmelmann, a professor of digital and internet law at Cornell University. “That will be a very important barometer of where copyright owner sentiment stands.”
Anthropic is still facing a number of other copyright-related legal challenges. One of the most high-profile disputes involves a group of major record labels, including Universal Music Group, which allege that the company illegally trained its AI programs on copyrighted lyrics. The plaintiffs recently filed to amend their case to allege that Anthropic had used the peer-to-peer file sharing service BitTorrent to download songs illegally.
Settlements don’t set legal precedent, but the details of this case will likely be watched closely as dozens of other high-profile AI copyright cases continue to wind through the courts.