In May 2026, the case Apress Media, LLC et al. v. Anna’s Archive, supported by AAP, saw significant developments when Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York issued a default judgment against Anna’s Archive and Does 1–10 in a major copyright infringement lawsuit targeting the notorious pirate website.
Lui Simpson, Executive Vice President, Global Policy, of the AAP, celebrated this decision: We thank the court for this powerful decision, which sends a clear message that piracy will not be tolerated, and that pirate repositories like Anna’s Archive are the wrong place for big tech companies to acquire the high-quality content – including books and journals – that they need to develop powerful AI systems. Publishers will capitalize on this landmark decision in every way possible to disrupt and frustrate the piracy activities of this site. We believe that this action will further encourage the growth and development of the already robust legitimate market for licensing to AI systems, and speed the growth of a fair and open marketplace that will equally benefit both the tech and creative sectors.
Pressure from the publishing industry against Anna’s Archive is also happening in Denmark. After identifying examples of titles available through Anna’s Archive and WeLib, publishers approached Danske Forlag and RettighedsAlliancen, which subsequently petitioned the District Court of Næstved to order the telecommunications provider Fibia to block access to both services. On 1 May, the court ruled in favor of RettighedsAlliancen. As a result of the Code of Conduct between RettighedsAlliancen and Teleindustrien, the injunction also requires other telecommunications providers to block access to the two platforms.
AAP has also continued to support its members in other major legal disputes. Backed by the organization, AAP member publishers filed a class action lawsuit against Meta and its founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, alleging the willful infringement of millions of copyrighted textual works, including literary, educational, and scholarly publications, used to train Meta’s Llama large language models
According to AAP, this suit is a unified effort by companies across the academic, education, and trade publishing sectors seeking to hold Meta and Zuckerberg responsible for their broadly damaging, self-interested misconduct. Maria A. Pallante, President and CEO of AAP, stated: The Association of American Publishers enthusiastically supports this important class action which abundantly illustrates that Meta made calculated decisions to enrich itself with literary properties that it did not create and does not own, when instead it could have partnered with publishers and authors. In this 250th year of the United States, let’s remember that creators and innovators have always worked together to achieve public progress, by inspiring, educating, informing, and empowering human beings. Meta’s mass-scale infringement isn’t public progress, and AI will never be properly realized if tech companies prioritize pirate sites over scholarship and imagination.
Finally, AAP announced a partnership with the technology company Vermillio to document and facilitate the removal of infringing copies of literary works from online sites, including a rapidly rising flood of unauthorized generative AI copies that substantially reproduce, mimic, and perform protected audiobooks. Vermilio partners with leading talent, studios, record labels, and more – including Sony Music and high-profile individuals like Steve Harvey – to protect them from IP theft and allow them to monetize their image and likeness by securely licensing their data. Maria A. Pallante, President and CEO of AAP, said: today we have a system of infringement on the internet that is shocking and getting worse, calling for fresh thinking, sophisticated tools, and strong alliances. We are pleased to work with Vermillio in the effort to forge next-generation solutions for publishers, authors, and platforms.