SFWA Members: Watch Your Inboxes for Invitation to a Class-Action Lawsuit

This notice was first sent to all active SFWA members on August 12, 2025.

This summer, SFWA and other members of the Authors Coalition of America (ACA) have been involved in legal proceedings against Anthropic AI, which was trained on books downloaded from pirate websites.

The good news for authors is that Anthropic is now going to trial so the court can determine the amount of damages they will be liable for because of their use of our pirated books.

The court has decided this is not fair use, and a class-action lawsuit is now underway.

SFWA is now being subpoenaed for contact information from past and present members. This data will be used by lawyers to contact potential participants who fit the definition for this class-action lawsuit, so they can receive monetary damages.

You can find a partial list of pirated books used for Anthropic AI here.

Please note that not every book is eligible for this class-action lawsuit through the Authors Coalition. Per the court ruling on a definition for this case, an eligible text will have been registered with the United States Copyright Office within five years of publication and before being downloaded by Anthropic from LibGen or PiLiMi, or within three months of publication.

As this unprecedented case develops, SFWA will share more resources with members to support authors in decision-making around the defense of their work.

We strongly encourage all writers to share word of this lawsuit with writers outside of SFWA and other writers’ advocacy groups. You do not need to be an active member of any writing organization to participate in this legal action. If an author’s work falls under the aforementioned definition, they may be eligible to join this class-action lawsuit.

Thank you for your attention to this matter—and SFWA members: Watch your inboxes for more.

Sincerely,

SFWA’s ACA Commission & Board of Directors