In August 2025, Anthropic AI agreed to one of the largest copyright settlements around generative artificial intelligence to date, according to the Associated Press—and a group of authors is at the center. The lawsuit alleges that the AI company violated the Copyright Act by illegally downloading pirated books to train its database. If courts agree to the settlement, the company will owe authors up to $3,000 per title for the estimated half a million books included in the settlement—around $1.5 billion in total.

But in order to receive that money—or to be involved in any federal court case for copyright infringement—those authors’ books must be registered with the US Copyright Office. 

Whether you’re a newbie or seasoned author, you likely have some understanding of copyright. Regardless of registration, authors in the US are granted a level of copyright protection automatically under federal law. But in cases like the Anthropic settlement, that may not be enough to protect your work in court. So what does copyright protection mean for you as an author, and what extra steps should you take to ensure that others can’t take advantage of the work that is rightfully yours? 

Let’s walk through some basics to understanding copyright protection.

The Basics of Copyright

Copyright is protected under federal law in the US; the first copyright law was established in 1790. As part of the Library of Congress, the US Copyright Office manages copyright, stating this as its mission: “The US Copyright Office promotes creativity and free expression by administering the nation’s copyright laws and by providing impartial, expert advice on copyright law and policy for the benefit of all.”

When someone has a claim for a copyright violation, it’s the Copyright Office that registers the claim. The office also records copyrights for creative works.

Copyright Registration

Copyright is granted when someone creates a work, as long as it is the author’s original work and in a fixed form—not still floating in the author’s head. So why bother registering for copyright protections through the Copyright Office? 

Legal experts, such as intellectual property attorneys, highly recommend officially registering your creative work. Registration of a copyrighted work enters your work into the public record, which establishes dates and other key information about your work. This means, in a case of copyright infringement, you would be able to sue in federal court, and if the claim were found in your favor, you would be entitled to statutory damages, which can mean a higher monetary recompense than the actual damages you would receive otherwise.

How the Process Works

Although copyright exists automatically for works at the time of creation, registration for copyright with the US Copyright Office requires that authors and publishers fill out an application and pay a fee. Before you investigate copyrighting your work, here are some additional things to know.

How do I do it?

Visit https://www.copyright.gov/registration to find the portal to submit an application and walk-through videos detailing the process for different types of works. You must fill out an application and submit it along with a fee and a copy of the work.

What information must I provide?

You must submit an application form and a non-returnable copy of the work you want to register. You may register one work per application, though there are exceptions, such as multiple works that are bundled as a single unit of publication.

How long does the process take?

Copyright registration applications are processed as they are received, and processing varies depending on how many applications the office receives at the same time. Timing varies between less than a month to multiple months, depending on how the application is received—online or via mail—its difficulty, and whether any correspondence is required.

What does it cost?

Fees vary. The fee for a solo author of one work is $45. However, special circumstances and scenarios can cost more. View the breakdown of fees according to the work being copyrighted at https://www.copyright.gov/about/fees.html.

How does this work for authors outside the US?

You do not need to be born in the US to register your work with the Copyright Office. Any work protected by copyright law may be registered with the US Copyright Office—that includes all unpublished works, those that are first published in the US or in a country with which the US has a copyright treaty, or works created by a citizen or domiciliary of a country with which the US has a copyright treaty. 

Are US-based authors’ works protected in other countries? 

For the most part, yes. Authors based in the US have copyright protections in those countries with which the US has a copyright treaty, in the same way authors from those countries have protections for their work in the US.

What about mailing a copy of my work to myself—doesn’t that count?

The trick of self-addressing an envelope, inserting your work, and letting it go through US mail—sometimes referred to as “the poor man’s copyright”—is not something the courts recognize as legal protection.