,,,that if it's being published on Amazon under the same byline, the author authorized it and is being paid accordingly. (And certainly if it's being advertised on the front page of BC for sale on Amazon Kindle, it's authorized even if the byline is different.) If the story has been unpublished here, its presence there is almost certainly authorized; Amazon pays more and provides more services if the story doesn't appear on a free site, or on a paid site that charges less for it than they do.

I don't think Amazon wants to publish plagiarized ebooks, but they want to make sure that whoever's complaining about it is the real author. I doubt that the Feds would care much about petty theft -- not unless Trump gets back in and wants to hound Bezos again -- but if Amazon knowingly sells stolen merchandise across state lines they're breaking federal law and can be fined for it. In contrast, copyright violations are subjects of civil suits rather than criminal ones, with damages determined by the court.

It's patent rights that expire after 17 years in the U.S., as much as Big Pharma would prefer otherwise.

Registered trademark rights continue indefinitely, as long as the products or slogans are in use. So Coca-Cola (and Pepsi and RC, for that matter) don't have to worry about someone else using their brand names. (Though I think use of "coke" generically was too universal to remain protected.) And anyone who wants to make and sell a Mickey Mouse watch still has to get a license from Disney, even though Mickey's total copyright protection ended last year.

Eric