How a 14-year creative project became someone else’s content overnight
By Art of FACELESS | January 19, 2026
On January 17, 2026, I woke up to discover that a newly registered domain had published content using terminology, concepts, and intellectual property from The Hollow Circuit, a multimedia project I had been developing since 2012.
The content was clearly AI-generated. The scraper had pulled from our Amazon listing, public descriptions, and online presence, then repackaged it as original work. No attribution. No contact. Just theft.
This isn’t a story about one creator’s bad luck. It’s a case study in how AI content farms operate, why traditional IP protection is failing, and what independent creators can do to fight back.
Fourteen Years of Work, Scraped in Seconds
The Hollow Circuit started as a novel manuscript in 2012. Over fourteen years, it evolved into:
- A multimedia universe spanning novels, visual art, music, and cross-platform narratives
- A YouTube channel with 1.15K subscribers and established viral content
- Active social media presence across multiple platforms since 2010
- An Amazon listing, official domains (thehollowcircuit.com, altcardiff2026.com), and extensive public documentation
- A body of work suitable for trademark protection, with applications filed
Then on January 17, 2026, veloriumsilentpulse.online appeared.
Generic domain. Generic design. Generic “creative writing” site. But using our terminology. Our concepts. Our intellectual property.
The site appeared to be entirely AI-generated; scraped content run through an LLM to produce something that looked original but was built entirely on stolen foundations.
How AI Content Farms Operate
Here’s the playbook:
Step 1: Identify targets
Scrape platforms like Amazon, YouTube, and social media for creative projects with public descriptions but limited corporate protection.
Step 2: Extract and repackage
Feed the scraped content through an LLM (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini — doesn’t matter which). The AI generates “new” content that uses the same terminology, concepts, and frameworks but with enough surface variation to avoid exact plagiarism detection.
Step 3: Publish quickly
Register a cheap domain. Use a generic WordPress template. Publish everything at once. The goal is to establish “prior art” through sheer speed.
Step 4: Hope nobody notices
Most independent creators don’t have the resources to fight back. Most won’t even find out. The scraper moves on.
But we noticed. And we documented everything.
Why Traditional IP Protection Fails Here
Copyright law protects specific expression, not ideas. Trademark law protects brand identity, not narrative concepts. Patent law doesn’t cover creative fiction.
The gap is this:
If someone scrapes your publicly available descriptions, runs them through an AI, and publishes “new” content using your terminology, they haven’t technically violated copyright because the text isn’t identical. They haven’t violated trademark if they don’t use your exact registered marks. And they haven’t done anything that patent law covers.
But they’ve still stolen your intellectual property.
This is the challenge facing every independent creator in 2026. AI makes theft faster, cheaper, and harder to prove.
Our Response: Document Everything
We couldn’t stop the theft from happening. But we could make damn sure it was documented.
Immediate actions:
- Archived the fraudulent site via Internet Archive and archive.today
- Documented our prior art across all platforms with timestamps
- Filed formal trademark applications for The Hollow Circuit™ and related IP
- Published a public legal notice establishing ownership and a timeline
- Notified relevant platforms and preserved evidence for potential legal action
Why this matters:
In disputes over intellectual property, prior art and documentation are everything. We can prove:
- The Hollow Circuit has existed since 2012 (14 years of development)
- Our social media accounts predate the fraudulent site by over a decade
- Our Amazon listing existed before veloriumsilentpulse.online was even registered
- We have continuous, verifiable creative output across multiple platforms
Full legal documentation is available here:
artoffaceless.com/ip-theft-notice
Lessons for Independent Creators
If you’re building something online, assume it will be scraped. Plan accordingly.
1. Timestamp everything
Use platforms with verifiable dates: YouTube upload dates, Twitter/X post history, Amazon listings, GitHub commits. Build a trail of evidence.
2. Diversify your presence
Don’t rely on a single platform. Spread your work across multiple sites so no single point of failure can erase your prior art.
3. Consider trademark protection
If your project has distinctive terminology, visual identity, or branding, file for trademark protection. It’s not cheap, but it’s enforceable.
4. Archive your own work
Use Internet Archive, archive.today, and local backups. Don’t assume platforms will preserve your content forever.
5. Build in public, but strategically
Share enough to establish a presence, but keep core IP protected until you’re ready to formalise legal protections.
6. Consider print-first publishing
Physical media can’t be scraped by AI content farms. A book, zine, or physical artifact is harder to steal than a website.
Why This Matters Beyond One Project
The Hollow Circuit is a multimedia universe with a newly launched spin-odd set in Alt.Cardiff2026, a near-future city where underground art movements, speculative mythology, and hyperstitional narratives collide. It’s been my life’s work for fourteen years.
But this isn’t just about one project.
This is about whether independent creators can build anything online without corporations or content farms appropriating it the moment it gains traction.
We’re entering an era where AI can scrape, repackage, and republish creative work faster than creators can protect it. Traditional IP law wasn’t built for this. Platform policies aren’t enforced consistently. And most creators don’t have the resources to fight back.
So what do we do?
We document. We trademark. We archive. We build in public while protecting the core. We make it expensive and risky for scrapers to steal our work.
And we share what we learn so other creators can do the same.
What Happens Next
We’ve filed trademark applications. We’ve documented the theft. We’ve preserved all evidence.
veloriumsilentpulse.online is not affiliated with Art of FACELESS or The Hollow Circuit™.
Any content using our intellectual property without authorisation is theft.
The legitimate home for The Hollow Circuit is:
Full documentation, trademark filings, and legal notices are available at:
artoffaceless.com/ip-theft-notice
For Other Creators
If you’ve experienced similar IP theft, you’re not alone. And you have options.
We’re documenting our process, what worked, what didn’t, and what we learned via our Substack and research site. If this helps even one other creator protect their work, it’s worth sharing.
Resources:
- Art of FACELESS Research — Creator protection methodology
- Substack — Ongoing documentation and updates
- Primary Hub — All legitimate Art of FACELESS channels
Awen Null | Art of FACELESS™
Cardiff, UK
January 19, 2026
“Building the Hollow Circuit since 2012. Facelessness is Freedom.”
Related Reading
The Architecture of the Occupied Mind: Cognitive Colonisation in the Age of Algorithmic Hegemony
Our breakthrough AI consciousness research and The Veylon Protocol™
Alt. Cardiff 2026 Goes LIVE!
The first narrative fragment from The Hollow Circuit enters physical distribution
ARCHIVE ENTRY: Cognitive Colonization™ & Hyperstitional Emergence
Documentation of our AI research methodology breakthrough
Art of FACELESS is a Cardiff-based multimedia research collective. We’ve been building The Hollow Circuit since 2012. This is what happens when someone tries to steal it.