I don't know how many of you have been following the Bartz V. Anthropic case, but last week a tentative settlement had been reached.
Anthropic is an AI modeling firm. The problem is they've downloaded tons of pirated books to train their AI models. (The biggest irony in all this? Amazon is one of Anthropic's investors.)
William Alsup, the judge in the case recently declared that Anthropic's use of copyrighted works were a fair use, but he deemed their use of pirated copies to be illegal.
[DISCLOSURE: Five of my own pirated books were used by Anthropic.]
So what does this all mean?
First of all, find out if your books are listed in LibGen, one of the pirate sites used. The Atlantic put together a search engine to use. The other known pirate site is Pirate Library Mirror.
If any of your books are on the LibGen list, contact the law firm representing the plaintiffs here and fill out the contact form.
Your books MUST BE registered with the U.S. Copyright Office to be accepted in the planitiffs' class action suit!
And here's where most writers get confused. There's a HUGE difference in damages from a copyright infringement and a REGISTERED copyright infringement. If you don't understand the difference, I strongly recommend The Copyright Handbook by Stephen Fishman. Or talk to an IP attorney who specializes in copyright. Yes, the IP attorney will charge you for a consultation, but if you understand your rights and responsibilities as a creator, it will be totally worth the money!
Things a getting uglier as the billionaires steal our sweat. We little people need to look out for ourselves and each other.
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