…IN YOUR COPYRIGHT RIGHTS.
Last April, about twenty-five authors were fortunate enough to attend one of the last in-person meetings of MMMWriters—the one featuring Mr. Bradlee Frazer, partner at the firm of Hawley Troxell in Boise.
Mr. Frazer presented a clear and thought-provoking case arguing for self-education on the topic of “artificial intelligence,” a topic no writer (regardless of genre) might safely ignore. Specifically, “generative AI,” like ChatGPT, Claude, Midjourney, among others.
Here are a few key points (as I understood them, from the presentation and my notes; any errors mine; I am not a lawyer):
- Generative AI’s source material has been demonstrated to be illegally “scraped” copyright-protected books, artwork, and other purely human-created products.
- Requested generative AI output may well infringe on another’s copyright-protected material and leaves the ChatGPT (etc.) user open to suit.
- Works containing material generated by AI aren’t the user’s, aren’t owned by them, so the “author/artist” who “creates” with AI cannot expect copyright protection nor can they legally monetize the thing that AI generated based upon their prompt.
But a recent newsletter from Dave Chesson of Kindlepreneur reminded me of one of the most surprising things we attendees learned.
As you probably know, a suit was brought (do a search for “Anthropic lawsuit”) on behalf of the authors of nearly half a million books. There’s a process to benefit from the proceeds the court awarded (an entirely inadequate amount, IMO).
Okay, let’s pause a moment.
We all know that copyright rights are acquired automatically once the work is fixed in a tangible medium of expression. The (human) author of a created work, the second it’s fixed—pen to paper, or whatever—enjoys copyright protection.
However. (Check the last sentence in the block on the page linked from “copyright rights” in the previous paragraph.)
Chesson’s newsletter hones in on this specific point: “Only authors with a registered copyright were eligible [to receive funds from the settlement].”
How is this done?
Through the U.S. Copyright Office.
Registering a copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office is probably a tedious process, creates extra work for the author, and isn’t free (fees from $45 to $125 per work).
But it’s something for authors to consider when they set aside their creator hat and pick up their business-person hat.
