Glossary
Class action
A lawsuit in which one or a few plaintiffs sue on behalf of a larger group with similar claims.
In a class action, named plaintiffs represent a whole group, the class, such as all authors whose books were allegedly copied. A court must certify the class, deciding that the members' claims share enough in common to be handled together.
Class actions let many people pursue claims that would be too small or costly to bring alone, and they can lead to large settlements. Several AI copyright and privacy cases are filed as proposed class actions.
"Proposed" matters: until a court certifies the class, the case covers only the named plaintiffs. Settlements need court approval, and the amount per person can be small.
Read more: our explainer