Published Fiction at Center of Fair Use Dispute in Anthropic AI Training Lawsuit

In a blow to Anthropic, the court finds that using expressive, published works—central to LLM training—counts against fair use under the second statutory factor. Key precedents like Campbell and Harper & Row were cited, reinforcing protections even for fact-based creative arrangements.

2. THE NATURE OF THE COPYRIGHTED WORK

The second fair use factor is “the nature of the copyrighted work.” 17 U.S.C. § 107(2). This factor “calls for recognition that some works are closer to the core of intended copyright protection than others, with the consequence that fair use is more difficult to establish when the former works are copied.” Campbell, 510 U.S. at 586. For one thing, less protection is due published works than unpublished ones. For another, less protection is due “factual works than works of fiction or fantasy.” Harper & Row, 471 U.S. at 563. But ...