[usef-]

The grandparent claim was that they were surprised downloading books was legal, I was saying that it's not, as they did need to pay. Whether the law is enough is another question (some cases are still ongoing), and whether the courts are awarding it widely enough is another, but they are facing genuine legal backlash that international firms aren't right now and are more cautious. Several billion is a genuine cost that can move their prices higher in a time of strong competition (see also other announcements with media firms, it's not just books).

I'm guessing the Sam avatar was related to OpenAI's deal with disney to use their characters: https://openai.com/index/disney-sora-agreement/

It's true that "in the style of" (eg. Ghibli) is not currently legally protected, only actual character IP or using the Ghibli name. That's not inconsistent with US IP treatment.