Anthropic Burped…
There Is Movement… May Mean Nothing…
Most of you know that Kris and I and WMG Publishing have a lot of tittles in the Anthropic settlement. And I do mean a lot. And the expectation of any kind of payment is pretty much on the bottom of any reality. But some folks who know a lot more than I do are saying that payments are in process and it could be as soon as September 17th.
Yup, and pigs really can fly.
But today, Kris and I both got emails from Anthropic on books that were opted out. Disney, in their not caring at all about creators, opted out all the Marvel books and Kris and I wrote the X-Men novelization of the first movie and I wrote another X-Men novel, two Spider-Man novels, and an Iron Man novel. I knew that, but claimed them anyway, so this is no surprise.
But here is what my form letter from Anthropic said…
First it had my claim number at the top (one of them) and then it had this…
| We received your claim in the Anthropic Copyright Settlement. Your claim currently includes works which have been opted out of the Settlement. If any rightsholder opted out a work, then that work is opted out for all rightsholders of the work.
The works below have been opted out. You will not receive a payment for these works, but you are not releasing any claims with respect to them. |
| Opted Out Works on Your Claim |
| Copyright Number | Title |
|---|---|
| TX0005253099 | X-Men |
| TX0005383764 | X-Men |
———————-
Well, the word that sort of shocked me was “payments” and then this letter itself. Clearly the secret master, wait, that is “Special Master” is working through all this. Kris got the same letter about the X-Men novel and I got another one about the Spider-Man books.
So here it is in August and there is movement and a mention of payments.
I’m still betting pigs don’t fly.
But something is happening, the appeals do not appear to stop the payment process, so we shall see. The letters sure were a surprise.