In many countries, copyright exists as soon as you create a suitable work: you don't need to take any extra steps to protect your work (e.g. pay to register your copyright).
As Wikipedia puts it, "The Berne Convention introduced the concept that protection exists the moment a work is "fixed", that is, written or recorded on some physical medium, and its author is automatically entitled to all copyrights in the work and to any derivative works, unless and until the author explicitly disclaims them or until the copyright expires. A creator need not register or "apply for" a copyright in countries adhering to the convention. It also enforces a requirement that countries recognize rights held by the citizens of all other parties to the convention. Foreign authors are given the same rights and privileges to copyrighted material as domestic authors in any country that ratified the convention." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berne_Convention On Tuesday, 2 December 2025, 17:12:20 GMT, Laura R via Origami <[email protected]> wrote: Thanks. What’s the meaning of "AFAIK, the US is the only country that registers copyright like this, but IANAL”? > On Dec 2, 2025, at 2:08 PM, Tung Ken Lam via Origami > <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi Laura, > > From Wikipedia "Shadow libraries (also pirate libraries or black open access) > are online repositories of freely available digital media that are normally > paywalled, access-controlled, or otherwise not readily accessible" > > I am avoiding listing the names of the shadow libraries here; you can find > them in the Wikipedia article or in stories about the Anthropic case. > > Regards, > Tung Ken > > PS > > AFAIK as far as I know > IANAL I am not a lawyer > > > > On Tuesday, 2 December 2025, 17:00:09 GMT, Laura R via Origami > <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > Hi Tung Ken, > Can you explain what a shadow library is about? Also, the acronyms, so us > laymen can understand the concepts and how that affects authors. > Thanks! > Laura R. > >> On Dec 2, 2025, at 1:56 PM, Tung Ken Lam via Origami >> <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> Quite a few origami books were in the shadow library that Anthropic >> downloaded, including one of mine. >> >> Unfortunately, however, these books are excluded from this settlement as US >> copyright registration was required before the the books were dowloaded (to >> qualify for non-statutory damages). >> AFAIK, the US is the only country that registers copyright like this, but >> IANAL. US copyright registration is 45 USD per work >> https://www.copyright.gov/about/fees.html >> >> Tung Ken >> >> PS This case is not about the legality of training AI with copyrighted >> works, but the downloading of works from a shadow library. >> >> >> >> >> On Tuesday, 2 December 2025, 16:29:35 GMT, Nicolas TERRY via Origami >> <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> This is the first time I've ever been truly disappointed that none of my >> books have been pirated.... :o) >> >> Nicolas >> >> >>> >> ... >> In a nutshell, the AI firm Anthropic allegedly used a huge trove of pirated >> publications to train their AI model Claude; they have been sued in a class >> action suit, and rather than face a jury, they have offered to settle, with >> the settlement amount being $3K per pirated work (divided up among authors, >> publishers, and some percentage for unspecified fees). >> >> >> So this is a real thing. Here’s an NPR report about the suit and settlement: >> https://www.npr.org/2025/09/05/nx-s1-5529404/anthropic-settlement-authors-copyright-ai >> >> And here’s the official settlement website: >> >> https://www.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com/ >> >> >> ... >> >> Robert >> >> >> >> >
