Photo Credit: Anthropic
Anthropic is currently embroiled in multiple lawsuits against major music publishers, with billions of dollars at stake. But according to legal filings shared with Digital Music News, the Claude creator is also locking horns ‘mano-a-mano’ with Gang Tyre attorney Donald Passman, author of the music industry bible, All You Need to Know About the Music Business.
Like many AI giants, Anthropic is battling multiple music industry lawsuits with billions of dollars on the line — and potentially earth-shattering decisions on fair use and liability ahead.
Across a series of lawsuits filed by major music publishers, including Universal Music Publishing Group, BMG/Concord, and ABKCO, the core allegation is that Anthropic’s Claude was trained on copyrighted lyrics. More recently, those allegations have expanded to include direct and blatant piracy, with attorneys on both sides burning millions in billable hours while spinning mountains of paperwork.
But while Anthropic battles the music industry’s powerhouses, an unusual side-dispute in a separate class-action lawsuit is emerging.
Enter none other than prominent music power attorney Donald Passman, whose All You Need to Know About the Music Business was accidentally (or purposefully) ‘hoovered’ into Anthropic’s recently-announced $1.5 billion class action settlement with authors.
The settlement was forged in Bartz v. Anthropic PBC, which centers on the unauthorized use of books to train AI models. On its face, the billion-plus settlement felt like a win, though it appears highly problematic for more successful, high-profile authors like Passman.
And with more than 500,000 copies of All You Need sold since the 90s, Passman simply wants out of the class action deal.
Just one problem: Passman didn’t discover the settlement until it was too late, which means he’s subject to the accord — and Anthropic doesn’t want to grant an exception.
But how is it possible that Passman, who is signed to Simon & Schuster, missed the news of the $1.5 billion settlement?
Strangely, correspondence between Passman and his publishing agent reveals that he was never notified by the big-time book publisher. According to Simon & Schuster, publishers weren’t allowed to join the class action, with authors responsible for learning about the settlement and registering to join.
In Passman’s case, the penalty for not finding out about the settlement was getting roped into it anyway.
That has prompted a series of urgent legal filings, with Passman quickly lawyering up with Kenneth Freundlich of Freundlich Law to move to exit the class. In his filing to the court, Freundlich noted that Passman never received direct, individualized notice of the settlement or the opt-out procedures, despite his high profile and the prominent status of his book.
Upon realizing he was bound to the release of claims, Freundlich immediately contacted class counsel to request his removal. But for obvious reasons, Anthropic wants Passman to remain part of the structured class — and they’re fighting to keep it that way.
Perhaps equally obvious is why Passman wants out.
An exclusion would allow the power attorney to maintain his legal and negotiating leverage, rather than being forced to eat a less-than-delicious sandwich delivered by Anthropic. And of course, if he doesn’t like the deal, Passman also retains the right to walk or even litigate.
Indeed, class actions are perfectly functional for aggregating smaller creators. But they can actively constrain elite creators like Passman.
In its fierce opposition to the exit request, Anthropic argued that Passman’s “excusable neglect” argument is legally groundless.
Anthropic pointed out that Passman is not an unsophisticated author. Instead, he’s a world-class lawyer surrounded by legal experts, meaning he had ample resources to monitor the widely publicized litigation. Anthropic further argued that the court-approved notice campaign—which featured a 91.3% claim rate—fully satisfied due process.
One implicit allegation is that Passman ignored the notice. But if Anthropic put out a giant APB, why would Passman intentionally skip that notice? After all, a simple opt-out would be easier than filing extensive paperwork to exit the class after the deadline.
On that point, perhaps Simon & Schuster dropped the ball with one of their marquee authors. Another distinct possibility, however, is that Anthropic didn’t want Passman and other high-profile authors to find out about the settlement.
That is, until they were roped into it.
More as this develops. For access to all of the legal documents pertinent to this case, become a DMN Pro member.
