The investigative show Vetting, News24
In early September 2025, artificial intelligence startup Anthropic agreed to pay $1.5 billion to settle a book piracy lawsuit. The artificial intelligence company was sued by a class action lawsuit filed by book authors who accused the company of using pirated copies of their works to train their systems.
The landmark settlement, which a US court has given preliminary approval for the payment to authors, could mark a turning point in the legal battles between AI companies and writers, visual artists and other creative professionals. In this case, the company has agreed to pay authors about $3 for each of the approximately 500 books included in the settlement.
But while billions of dollars are being spent in the US on copyright abuses, in Albania, artists' works are being illegally displayed endlessly at concerts, bars, and television stations, and it is the artists themselves who end up receiving only 10 lek or 100 euros per year from Collective Administration Agencies.
"In Albania we play on stages, in theaters, at festivals and we are present on television. The public loves us because we belong to this country while the law does not love us, we are unprotected by the law. There is Albautori, there are laws, but I have no profit from the broadcasts of my pieces, my orchestrations, which are made in the Albanian media. So, this is truly worrying," composer Markelian Kapidani told "Vetting".
The editorial office of the show "Vetting" has received a complaint from a group of artists, singers, composers and conductors about the fact that they are not being paid their copyright. They have denounced the entities that use their works, such as concerts, bars, clubs, televisions, and one of the main concerns was the Collective Administration Agencies.
According to composer Gjergj Leka, public institutions and agencies dealing with copyright have benefited immensely from this situation.
"Many times they tell us, justifying that we have little money, that we haven't paid other agencies to distribute to us, and many, many of these cantilenas that I've been listening to for years. Then when we specifically researched, things turned out differently," says the disappointed composer Leka.
Of course, the problem is not only with the agencies, since the agencies themselves must have income to distribute, but also with the law, specifically with the implementation of the Copyright Law.
According to copyright expert Mirlinda Çollaku, this law is not being implemented in our country.
"The result is that authors and artists are among the poorest in Europe, they receive extremely little payment because the income is not collected here and because this law is unenforceable. Of course, the responsibility here lies with state institutions that have the duty to monitor this market, which they do not do," expert Çollaku told "Vetting".
Copyright is as important as the other chapters that Albania must complete for integration into the European Union, as it has chapter no. 7 entirely dedicated to this issue.
One of the most important articles in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that "everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any artistic, scientific or literary production of which he is the author."
Albania has many problems in copyright protection and a significant problem with the institutions that are supposed to protect it and non-profit organizations or collective copyright management agencies. The latter have been in the spotlight due to the numerous complaints made by singers and composers who are disappointed with the income they have received.
"Copyright is not just money, it is respect, it is dignity, and the distribution of this money by AlbAutori is offensive," says indignant composer Gjergj Leka.
From the authors' statements, it is understood that the problem extends to several areas, starting with the implementation of the Copyright Law, problems with the Copyright Directorate at the Ministry of Economy, Culture and Innovation, as well as the lack of transparency from collective management agencies.
Albania without a national copyright strategy
Several years after the creation of Law No. 35/2016 on Copyright in 2016, Albania would find itself without a national strategy for the protection of copyright. Specifically, in the period 2019-2022, our country would not have an action strategy to implement this law and to ensure income for authors who have artistic creativity, which is in demand by the public.
The institution that has the main role in this regard is the Ministry of Economy, Culture and Innovation, which operates through the Copyright Directorate. Another important institution is the General Directorate of Intellectual Property, under the Ministry of Finance and Economy, which has Industrial Property and Intellectual Property protection in its area of responsibility.
The report of the Supreme State Audit Office states that in the absence of a dedicated strategy for copyright, as well as its failure to foresee it in the National Strategy for Culture 2019-2025, the Ministry of Culture lacks a vision for copyright, as it has not achieved its objectives in this regard.
But the important question that arises is:
How much revenue can be secured in this regard by the Albanian government and collective administration agencies?
According to copyright expert Mirlinda Çollaku, if the law were implemented, we would have a lot of income for agencies and artists.
"In a modest study that I conducted in collaboration with the European Commission a few years ago, where we were asked to make an assessment of the potential of this agency and collective management market, the result was an estimated figure of between 30 and 50 million euros. This study was only for the music and film markets, income that would have to be collected through collective management mechanisms and ultimately go to artists, authors and creators in this country," said expert Çollaku.
There is a list of entities that must pay royalties, which would give another perspective to artistic creativity.
"According to INSTAT, according to the National Business Center and according to taxes, it is estimated that the user entities that have an obligation, based on this law, that are considered user entities of copyright, are somewhere around 30 thousand. This includes radios, televisions, which are the main ones, bars, restaurants, hotels, clubs and any other commercial entity that uses in the background in one way or another, music or works used by copyright", said lawyer Mirlinda Çollaku.
According to information provided by "Vetting", out of these 30 thousand, there are about 100 entities that pay this obligation annually, a relatively low figure. This happens for many reasons, but the main burden is on the Ministry of Culture, the Copyright Directorate, which has inspectors who carry out monitoring in the field. Apparently, Albanian institutions have not taken this law seriously to implement it, since the Copyright Directorate with 10 inspectors reports that it inspects somewhere around 300 entities per year, which according to calculations amounts to three inspections per month.
"In one day, in eight hours of work, an inspector can do at least eight such inspections. But how is it justified that an inspector does three such inspections a month? How is the payment of this entire inspectorate in the Ministry of Economy justified, where practically those people turn out to be, staying in offices and not doing any work. The result is that this law is not being massively implemented in the territory. The result is that authors and artists are among the poorest in Europe, they benefit from extremely few payments because here the income is not collected and because because of this unenforceable law, here of course the responsibility lies with the state institutions that have the duty to monitor this market, which they do not do," said expert Çollaku.
The findings of the expert and the "Vetting" analysis are also confirmed by the report of the Supreme State Audit, which emphasizes that the Copyright Directorate is an institution with significant shortcomings. The audit has revealed gaps in the structure, a lack of standardized protocols for inspections and monitoring, as well as a lack of important strategic documents.
In the communication that the "Vetting" journalist had with the general director of Albautor, specifically Mr. Erion Muka, the latter had reservations about the work of state institutions.
"I am aware that we are the country with the lowest payments in the region, for copyright remuneration. And when I say lowest, many times, dozens of times lower than Montenegro, Serbia or Macedonia or the region. Now, or Croatia. The main problems are, the biggest payers of copyright are televisions, which do not pay or pay ridiculous amounts, which are totally negligible.
But, in addition to this, there is a problem that a chain of institutions does not function, for which we have, your question is why don't you denounce them? Of course, they have been denounced for years. And I have just arrived, I have also made my denunciations which are one, AMA at the moment when in its organic law, that each subject, which will be licensed for broadcasting, as a broadcaster or as a re-broadcaster or even re-licensed, must have, must definitely have the authorization for the use of protected works", said Director Muka for "Vetting".
