Will this get me paid?
Not by itself. We do not file claims, represent you, negotiate with anyone or collect money for you, and we take no share of any recovery. What we sell is research: dated evidence of where your books were listed, which U.S. registrations appear to cover them, and how the registration dates compare with the documented downloads. A lawyer can use that to judge whether you have a claim worth bringing. Many authors will not have one.
When a report shows a dollar figure, it is the legal maximum the statute allows, not an estimate of what you would receive.
What the free check shows
Type your name and we show how many catalog records in each pirate library carry it, how many have a candidate U.S. registration, and how many were registered before a documented download could have begun. It costs nothing and needs no e-mail address. A common name will include other people’s books, so look over the titles before you buy and untick any that are not yours. On the report page you can untick any title that is not yours, and if another person’s books are still in your report, we correct it or refund it.
What a report adds
- Every catalog record under your name: which library listed it, on which dated snapshots, with file IDs, checksums and torrent details where we have them.
- Candidate Copyright Office registrations for each title, each marked by whether the Office record matches on title, author, edition and dates.
- A registration-date screen against each company’s documented downloads, using the download start where it is known and the library’s own record of when the copy was added. Where the dates overlap or no earliest date is known, the result is shown separately and never counted. The exact rule.
- A PDF, a CSV table and a JSON file you can give to a lawyer. You can untick titles that are not yours.
The Registration Details edition adds the Office’s own record for each registration, including claimants and any recorded transfers.
What we cannot tell you
- Whether a particular company copied your particular file. A listing shows your book was in the library; any link to a company comes from court findings, company filings or allegations, and every item says which.
- Who owns the rights today. Your publisher may hold them, or share them.
- Whether a claim is still timely, or whether a settlement already covered your book.
- What a claim is worth. Only a court or a settlement decides that.
What to do next
- If you think your book was on the Works List of the Bartz v. Anthropic settlement, check with the settlement administrator: the official site is anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com, with a works lookup, and the administrator answers at info@anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com. We do not handle claims and are not connected with the settlement. The court granted final approval on July 20, 2026 (case page).
- Follow new rulings and filings on the News page, or get them by e-mail.
- For advice about your own rights, talk to a copyright lawyer. A report gives them the facts to start from.
Your data
The free check stores what you type and a daily visitor code, not your IP address. A report stores the order and the result set so we can reissue it. Details are in the privacy policy. Questions: support@payauthors.com.
General information, not legal advice.