Copyright Basics: How to Protect Your Book

In my last newsletter I mentioned the class action lawsuit against Anthropic for infringing copyright by training its artificial intelligence (AI) tool, Claude, on pirated books; a proposed settlement is under review. There are other AI copyright-related suits going on as well (e.g., Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI).

If you are a published author, you may be affected by one or more of these suits. However, even if you are not yet published, it is worth understanding the basics of copyright so you can protect yourself in the future. I recently spotted a thread in a writers’ forum that was full of confusion, misunderstandings, and myths.

In this article I want to give you a basic understanding of copyright in the U.S. and why you should pay attention. However, let me be absolutely clear…

DISCLAIMER: This article is intended to provide general information. It should not be construed as legal advice. If you have questions about your situation, please consult an intellectual property attorney or other appropriate professional.

Copyright

Copyright is a property right that gives the owner the exclusive legal right to print, publish, perform, film, or record literary, artistic, or musical material, and to authorize others to do the same. Copyright protects things like books, movies, song lyrics, and photographs, but not slogans or ideas. Copyright may be held by the creator of the work, or the creator could assign the right to someone else. Copyright is often indicated by “© 2025 Jane Doe” or “Copyright 2025 Jane Doe.”

Copyright infringement is the use of protected works without permission.

Creation of copyright

Copyright comes into existence when you put a creative idea into tangible form, and it covers published and unpublished works. In other words, when you put your words on the page for your book or article or blog post, you own the copyright to that work. There is no requirement to file anything with the government or to add the © symbol for copyright to exist.

Registering copyright

As noted, you are not required to register your copyright for it to exist. However, and this is a big however, if someone infringes your work—say by pirating your book—you cannot file suit against them in U.S. federal court unless you have registered the copyright.

Copyright is registered through the U.S. Copyright Office at the Library of Congress with an application, fees, and a copy of the work being registered. Most authors register when their book is complete and published, but you can register it earlier if you want added protection. Considerations:

• For authors who have a traditional publisher, the copyright is typically registered by the publisher, and the copyright may be held by the author or the publisher.
• If you are submitting your manuscript to an agent or publisher, generally you do not need to register a copyright in advance. There is little risk of their stealing your work.
• If you register and then the manuscript goes through substantial revision, you may have to reregister (though minor editorial changes are okay).
• If you haven’t already registered, you should do so promptly after publication to preserve certain rights, including eligibility for statutory damages and attorneys’ fees in court.

The myth of the “poor man’s copyright”

You may on occasion hear that mailing yourself a copy of your manuscript creates a “poor man’s copyright.” While a postmark may help support your claim that you created your work before a certain date, it does not register your copyright or preserve your full legal rights.

As of 2025, the standard copyright registration costs $65. In my opinion, if you have invested time and energy into writing a book, it is worth the cost to secure registration.

For more, read the U.S. Copyright Office’s FAQs on Copyright.

Using others’ work

Just as you own the copyright to your work, other creators own the copyright to theirs. This means there are limits to how you can use or quote their work without permission. Beware: Credit alone does not replace the need to get permission when required.

When you don’t need permission

Knowing when you need permission can be complicated, so it’s almost easier to start by understanding when you don’t need it. You do not need to seek permission when:

• You are simply providing facts – Facts cannot be copyrighted.
• You are simply linking to the information – You do not need permission to send someone to a URL.
• Something is in the public domain – When something is in the public domain, its copyright has expired, been forfeited, or never applied. The date a work enters the public domain depends partly on when it was published. A general rule in the U.S.: Published creative works enter the public domain 95 years after publication; unpublished works enter the public domain 70 years after the death of the creator. So as of 2025, works published before 1930 (that is, in 1929 or earlier) are generally in the public domain—this date advances by one year each January. However, there are exceptions and variations, so determining a work’s status can be complicated. Cornell University has a useful chart that shows the complexity and can help determine the likely status of a work.
• Something falls under an appropriate Creative Commons license – Creative Commons (CC) makes it easier for creators to offer their work (e.g., images, photos) to others via different licenses, including for commercial use.
• Your use falls within “fair use” – Keep reading for an explanation, but note that fair use can be tricky, so consult an attorney if you are unsure about your situation.

Fair use

Fair use is a legal doctrine that says portions of copyrighted works may be used without requesting permission, as long as the use is reasonable and, well, “fair.”

Fair use is determined based on a holistic assessment of the use of the work in question, including the following four factors:

1. The purpose and character of the use – How is the work being used? Noncommercial and educational purposes generally have a stronger argument for fair use, but a commercial purpose does not rule it out. Also coming into play is whether the use is transformative. Does it add new value or expression in some way? If so, it may be considered fair use.
2. The nature of the copyrighted work – How original is the work being used or excerpted? Highly creative works and unpublished works generally weigh against fair use more strongly than less creative/more factual and published works.
3. The amount and substantiality of the portion used – How large and how significant is the use compared to the entire work? This is a gray area. A paragraph or two from a book-length work may be okay, but that same amount of text from a short article may be too much. The so-called “10% rule”—meaning you can use up to 10% of someone else’s work—is another myth.
4. The effect on the market – Will the use reduce demand for the original or harm the potential market for things like licensing? Short quotes from a book seem likely to have little impact; however, if your book is founded on someone else’s work (How to Implement Joe Schmoe’s XYZ Model), the impact may be greater.

Based on these factors and case law, much of the time it is possible to make a pretty good guess at whether something would be considered fair use. In fact, if you have a traditional publisher, they will likely provide guidelines for when you need to secure permission.

Ultimately, however, a determination of fair use is established only by a court decision, which typically happens when someone brings a lawsuit.

For more, read the U.S. Copyright Office’s FAQs on Fair Use.

Permissions summary

To summarize:

• If your use falls under facts, links, public domain, or an appropriate CC license, no permission is needed.
• If your use falls under fair use, no permission is needed.
• If your use does not fall into those categories, permission is required.

And of course, even if explicit permission is not required, it is still a best practice to credit sources.

AI class action lawsuits and copyright

So let’s link our understanding of copyright back to the issue of AI class actions. Here is what seems to be occurring to date (late September 2025):

• The use of digital books for AI training seems to be considered fair use—so far. However, with multiple legal cases still in progress, I’m not sure this is fully settled.
• The use of pirated books for training is a copyright infringement (a pretty clear one, if you ask me).
• The proposed settlement in the Anthropic case currently envisions a fund of $1.5 billion to be divvied up among class members (and lawyers), which works out to maybe $3000 per book. However, to be a member of the Anthropic class, the copyright must have been registered within a specific timeframe (per the proposed settlement: “within five years of the work’s publication and … before being downloaded by Anthropic, or within three months of publication”). It seems likely that settlements in other cases would have a similar requirement, as it reflects the underlying copyright law.
• Remember I said above that if you have a traditional publisher, the publisher is usually the one responsible for registering the copyright? As a result of the Anthropic case, some authors whose books have been infringed are finding that their publisher did not register the copyright. Does this mean the authors lose out on the $3000 per book (assuming the proposed settlement gets approved)? Possibly. Does it mean their publisher is on the hook for breach of contract? Probably—unless it was not in the contract. Will authors have recourse? Maybe—but just think of the headache if you as an author have to take action against your publisher. Let’s hope the publishers who failed in their registration obligations do the right thing and make authors whole without making them jump through hoops.

The Authors Guild has a good article on the Anthropic case, as does Writer Beware. The Authors Guild also has a good article on copyright registration.

As these lawsuits unfold, they highlight the risk of AI misuse and the importance of understanding and securing your copyright as an author. So pay attention.

Got legal questions? Please do NOT call me! Got book questions? Okay, let’s see if I can help! Get in touch at karin@clearsightbooks.com.

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