Publishers’ Trust in Nippan Dented by Unauthorized Book Sales for AI Training

Criticism is mounting within the publishing industry over the sale of Japanese books by a subsidiary of major book distributor Nippan Group Holdings to U.S. artificial intelligence developer Anthropic PBC without notifying publishers. The trust of publishers in Nippan has been shaken, with concerns that Anthropic used these books for AI training.

Norio Yamamoto, president of the Japan Book Publishers Association with 380 member publishers, stated that publishers and distributors must work closely together as previously promised. Nippan acknowledged selling books to Anthropic, a fact exposed in documents from a lawsuit filed by U.S. authors in August 2024, alleging copyright infringement.

Anthropic is believed to have scanned the pages of massive quantities of books, which were sold by a company named “Nippan Japan.” Nippan Group Holdings reportedly said it was unaware of the books' purpose. Nippan officials have started visiting publishers for explanations about the book sales. The slump in the publishing industry caused Nippan to record a consolidated net sales loss of ¥342.7 billion and an operating loss of ¥1.3 billion in fiscal 2025, with a loss of ¥3.6 billion in its wholesale business.

The legal situation in Japan, where a 2018 revision of the Copyright Law permits the use of text, illustrations, and other works for AI training without permission, means there are no judicial precedents that would make the Nippan transactions illegal. A copyright expert believes this issue will be resolved in future contract talks between publishers and wholesalers but that it is crucial to establish a legal basis for the disclosure of training data and an 'opt out' system for copyright holders.