Judge Overseeing Biggest Tech, Trump Cases Plans to Go Inactive

William H. Alsup, the San Francisco federal judge who for a quarter century has presided over legal battles that shaped Silicon Valley’s tech industry and has overseen major challenges to President Donald Trump, said Friday that he will likely take inactive status by the end of the year.

The 79-year-old senior judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of California said in a short order that the parties in a high profile copyright battle between a group of authors and generative AI firm Anthropic PBC can begin settlement discussions early because of his plans.

“Although normally counsel ...