I assume that we're all familiar with the concept of distillation here, so didn't feel the need to point out its current misuse towards models that aren't smaller. In all the cases with China, the models are smaller, so it still correctly applies.

but unlike Anthropic they at least didn't break copyright law

Reference? All the recent lawsuits have sides with Anthropic, that I've seen. What exact case do you have in mind?

I am, clearly, not talking about the act of not paying to obtain the works. That is wrong, and they've been sued successfully, because the law is clear about that. I'm talking about the integration of works into the model, without permission, which everything I've seen says none is required in a "sufficiently transformative" framing.