Publishers Weekly reported on Oct. 21, 2026, that nearly 300 authors filed five individual copyright complaints against Meta Platforms, Inc., on Oct. 19 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Winspear et al. v. Meta Platforms, Inc., case 3:26-cv-12100, is one of the five complaints and names 60 plaintiffs.
Four claims in the Winspear complaint
The complaint separates alleged copying of digital books from a separate claim about scanning physical books. Its four counts are:
- Direct infringement involving digital copies: The plaintiffs allege that Meta used books from sources including Books3, LibGen, Z-Library and Anna’s Archive in developing Llama.
- Direct infringement through Project Vellum: The plaintiffs allege that the operation bought physical books in bulk, scanned them, used optical character recognition to extract their text, and used the digital copies to train Muse models. The complaint places Project Vellum’s start around mid-2025.
- Contributory infringement: The plaintiffs allege that torrent activity distributed pieces of book files to other users.
- Removal of copyright-management information: The complaint alleges that Meta removed or altered information identifying the copyrighted works and their rights holders.
What the plaintiffs ask the court to do
The complaint requests declarations of infringement and willfulness, a permanent injunction, an accounting of Meta’s gains, statutory or actual damages, restitution, costs and attorneys’ fees, interest, and further relief. The plaintiffs also demand a jury trial. These are requested remedies, not awards; the complaint presents the plaintiffs’ allegations, not a court ruling.
