In an exclusive interview with ip fray, Justin Nelson of Susman Godfrey discussed some of the biggest cases in his career, how Susman Godfrey finds and trains its lawyers, the difference (and cross-overs) between patent and copyright litigation, and how he decides on whether to take up a case or not.
Mr. Nelsonâs track record includes multi-million dollar settlements between Dominion Voting Systems and Fox ($787.5 million), as well as a $64.5 million win for Green Mountain against Ardagh, and a $38 million judgment for Fractus (a case that later settled on appeal). In Dominion Voting Systems v. Fox (one of his biggest cases to date), a Delaware judge said about his practice: âthis is the best lawyering I’ve had, everâ.
The interview also largely discussed the $1.5 billion Bartz v. Anthropic copyright class action settlement that he was lead counsel for (on the plaintiff side), including why he decided to get involved in the case, the precedents it will set, and how authors can understand whether they are class members or not. The judge in the Anthropic case preliminarily approved the settlement on September 25, and commented that âwe have some of the best lawyers in America in this courtroom now.â A final approval hearing for this case is not expected until at least Q2 2026, he disclosed in the interview.
The deal, if approved, would not only be the largest-ever copyright settlement, but also the largest copyright recovery in known history (including trial, settlement, class action, etc.). According to Mr. Nelson, there was a lot of risk involved, and there still is, given that final approval has not yet occurred.
If approved, class members will then get paid a few months after that. To find out how to get paid, authors and publishers can go to this website: www.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com. Mr. Nelson expanded on this in the interview.
Here is a link to the full interview on ip fray:
In case of interest, here is a link to the full interview on ai fray: