Leo

I was keenly watching updates on <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/anthropic-says-chatbot-ai-training-makes-fair-use-books-2025-03-28/">the Anthropic copyright lawsuit</a>, in part because every single book I’d ever written appeared in <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/03/search-libgen-data-set/682094/">LibGen, the database of pirated books</a> at the heart of the case. When news broke that there was <a href="https://apnews.com/article/anthropic-authors-copyright-judge-artificial-intelligence-9643064e847a5e88ef6ee8b620b3a44c">a frankly astonishing settlement in the case</a>, I figured I might be eligible to file a claim for the affected books. I wasn’t expecting a grand payout, mind; it was really about the principle of the thing. However, when I went to <a href="https://www.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com/">the new site created for the settlement</a>, I was surprised to see that only some of my books appeared when I searched for my name in <a href="https://secure.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com/lookup">the database of affected works</a>. A number of much, much older books I’d coauthored were listed; none of <a href="https://ethanmarcotte.com/books/">the books I wrote myself</a> appeared when I looked up my name. I spent some time poking around the claims site’s <a href="https://www.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com/faq">labyrinthine FAQs section</a>, it seems like a claim can only be filed if a book meets the following criteria: <ol> <li>The book was published prior to August 2021; and</li> <li>The book was registered with the <a href="https://www.copyright.gov/">U.S. Copyright Office</a> within five years of publication, and registered before Anthropic downloaded the pirated database in July 2021.</li> </ol> <a href="https://ethanmarcotte.com/books/you-deserve-a-tech-union/"><cite>You Deserve a Tech Union</cite></a> was first published in 2023, so it’s immediately ruled out. But my other two books meet the first criterion: <a href="https://ethanmarcotte.com/books/responsive-web-design/"><cite>Responsive Design</cite></a> was published in 2011, with a second edition released in 2014; <a href="https://ethanmarcotte.com/books/responsive-design-patterns-and-principles/"><cite>Responsive Design: Patterns & Principles</cite></a> was published in 2015. So far, so good. But since none of my books appear when I search the claims site’s database, I’m guessing the second criterion is where things fall down: namely, I don’t think <a href="https://ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/reacquired/">my former publisher</a> formally registered my books with the Copyright Office. It’s quite possible they never registered any of the books they published: when I search for my former publisher’s name on the claims site, I get zero results. This is where I started to get frustrated. I mean, here’s the thing: my books are copyrighted. They became copyrighted the minute they were published, and that applies to everyone who wrote a book for my former publisher. Heck, the Copyright Office itself says that <a href="https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-general.html">registration is voluntary</a>. The fact that copyrighted works aren’t eligible unless they’ve formally registered feels like a lawyerly dodge: a legal maneuver to help Anthropic reduce the size of its payout pool, and thereby keeping the company from getting rendered down into its component parts during bankruptcy proceedings. The other thing that’s frustrating about this is that I have zero problem with my books getting pirated in the first place. I have every problem with my books being used to line the pocket of a few billionaires who don’t care about creators, copyright, or even basic consent. I have every problem with my books getting used to prop up a half-baked technology that is destroying the planet, ruining the internet, and supercharging wealth inequality, all while remaining — and I want to be exceedingly clear about this — <a href="https://ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/against-stocking-frames/">a complete and utter failure</a>.

<hr /> This has been “<a href="https://ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/a-right-to-copy/">A right to copy.</a>” a post from <a href="https://ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/">Ethan’s journal.</a> <a href="mailto:listener+rss@ethanmarcotte.com?subject=Reply%20to:%20“A right to copy.”">Reply via email</a>