Annelise Levy, reporting for Bloomberg Law:

The federal judge overseeing Anthropic PBC’s proposed $1.5 billion copyright settlement is concerned class lawyers are striking a deal behind the scenes that will be forced “down the throat of authors.”

Judge William Alsup at the hearing said the motion to approve the deal was denied without prejudice, but in a minute order after the hearing said approval is postponed pending submission of further clarifying information.

Several sites (including Bloomberg Law) originally reported this as Judge Alsup flat out denying the proposed settlement rather than postponing approval. Still, things aren’t looking great:

During the first hearing since the deal was announced on Sept. 5, Alsup said he felt “misled” and needs to see more information about the claim process for class members. “I have an uneasy feeling about hangers on with all this money on the table,” he said.

It’s never good when the judge overseeing your case feels “misled.” He also said he was “disappointed” and called the settlement “nowhere close to complete.”

There may also be some very disappointed lawyers:

Alsup admonished class counsel for enlisting an “army” of attorneys to work on the settlement disbursement, including some from the Authors Guild and Association of American Publishers. “Add-on” attorneys won’t be paid from the settlement funds and attorneys fees will be based on how much is paid to class members, he said.

I also foresee this as being a sticking point for some authors:

Alsup instructed the parties to design a claim form that requires anyone with copyright ownership to opt-in to the settlement. If one owner opts out, the work won’t be covered by the settlement.

I doubt authors are willing to lose their rights to a settlement simply because one of their co-authors (or possibly their publisher?) opts out of (or perhaps never opts in to) the claim.