The Geopolitics of Structural IP Exfiltration: Cross-Border Legal Arbitrage, Physical-Layer "Project Panama," and the Exploitation of the Japanese Knowledge Commons in Generative AI Supply Chains

Abstract

■ Abstract(英文概要) This academic monograph examines the systemic, cross-border extraction of copyrighted human knowledge from non-Western jurisdictions to fuel Frontier Generative AI models. Focusing on the joint supply chain operations between US AI developer Anthropic, PBC, Japanese distribution conglomerate Nippon Shuppan Hanbai (Nippan IPS), and platform ecosystem giant Rakuten Group, this paper analyzes the material, legal, and economic mechanisms that enable large-scale intellectual property exfiltration. Specifically, we investigate court disclosures from Bartz v. Anthropic, which reveal "Project Panama"—a physical-layer procurement scheme involving the export of over 50 metric tons (~100,000 physical volumes) of Japanese copyrighted books to scanning centers in North America. By leveraging the technical translation infrastructure of "Nippan Loader" (which maps Japanese NDC/C-code metadata to US BISAC taxonomies), Anthropic obtained pristine, human-authored Japanese training corpora to bypass synthetic data degradation and AI "slop." We dissect how this apparatus operates via cross-border legal arbitrage: exploiting the Exhaustion Principle under Article 26-2 of the Japanese Copyright Act for physical exports, alongside the First-Sale Doctrine and Fair Use under US Copyright Law (§107) for destructive optical scanning. Furthermore, this study details how Japanese creators were structurally excluded from the $1.5 billion Bartz v. Anthropic class action settlement due to formal US Copyright Office registration prerequisites. Finally, we formulate three mandatory counter-strategies—physical provenance tracking, anti-digitization resale covenants, and institutional licensing models—to restore economic sustainability to the global knowledge commons.