UK authors excluded from Anthropic settlement over US registration

UK-based authors are reportedly being excluded from compensation in the Anthropic AI copyright settlement because their works lack U.S. Copyright Office registration, according to complaints by writer Tiffani Angus on Bluesky. Although UK copyright arises automatically without formal registration, the settlement allegedly requires U.S. registration as a condition for payment. Angus stated that thousands of eligible authors receive nothing while registered U.S. claimants proceed with payouts. This discrepancy underscores tensions between international copyright norms and U.S. procedural requirements in AI training litigation. Legal experts note that U.S. registration is typically required only for filing infringement lawsuits, not for underlying rights. The exclusion raises questions about whether class-action settlements adequately represent foreign rightsholders in generative AI disputes. Anthropic has not publicly commented on the specific eligibility criteria or the number of affected international claimants.