Authors are upset after getting strange emails saying someone else is claiming their money from Anthropic's $1.5 billion copyright deal.

Anthropic settled a lawsuit last year, which said using copyrighted material to train AI is okay under fair use, but copying it without permission isn't. The deal was officially approved in July, so payments can now start going out.

The agreement says authors of about 500,000 books will get $3,000 for each stolen book. If the book is still being sold by a traditional publisher, the money is split evenly between the author and the publisher. But if the book was self-published or the publisher gave up the rights, the author should get the full payment.

However, some authors are upset because they're getting emails saying that publishers are claiming more money than they should.

For instance, mystery writer April Henry was confused when HarperCollins claimed a book she had already given up rights to, and even said they were now her employer, which they never were.

At Writers Beware, Victoria Strauss noted that authors are complaining about two main issues.

One is that some publishers are trying to claim money for books they no longer own. The other is that some publishers are asking for the full amount instead of just half.

Strauss said she's not sure if this is due to bad record-keeping or bad intentions.

She also mentioned that publishers have already said they made a mistake and are asking Anthropic to fix it.

Authors Guild CEO Mary Rasenberger told The New York Times that she doesn't think this is publishers trying to take advantage of authors.

She said it's more likely due to messy records and a confusing settlement process.

Strauss also said that while the complaints she's seen are just a small part of the bigger picture, the number of similar issues being reported is high and suggests a bigger problem.

She also noted that some literary agents are making claims, even though they don't own the rights to the books they represent.

Author Courtney Milan, who writes under the name Heidi Bond, was even more direct, saying, "Some agents are trying to take a share of the Anthropic settlement, and I don't think they should do that at all.

What the hell, stop that shit!" 

Milan and the Authors Guild also provided more details on how authors can challenge their payment shares. One important point is that for an author to get the full payment, the rights to the book must have reverted before August 10, 2022, the "download date" in the settlement.