Apr 28, 2025Delhi HC Navigates Uncharted Waters in Landmark AI Copyright Dispute
The Delhi HC (‘DHC’) is currently adjudicating a pivotal copyright infringement case in Asian News International (‘ANI’) v. Open AI,[1] addressing novel legal questions at the intersection of Artificial Intelligence (‘AI’) and intellectual property rights. ANI has alleged that OpenAI’s ChatGPT model generates responses that are either verbatim or substantially similar to its own content and has thereby infringed its copyright for training purposes without permission. The case has drawn significant attention from major industry stakeholders, with the Indian music industry, Federation of Indian Publishers, and Digital News Publishers Association filing intervention applications. The DHC has also appointed two amicus curiae, i.e., Dr. Arul George Scaria, Professor of Law at NLSIU, Bengaluru, and Advocate Adarsh Ramanujan to assist the Court.
OpenAI has defended its position, inter alia, by questioning the jurisdiction of Indian Courts, arguing that its servers are located outside India with no AI model training occurring within the country. OpenAI has also invoked the doctrines of ‘fair use’ and ‘transformative use,’ contending that generative AI outputs add meaning to original works. OpenAI further informed the DHC that it had already blocklisted ANI’s domain in October 2024 to prevent further use of its material in AI training.
The DHC did not grant interim injunction in this matter and has framed four key legal issues for consideration:
i. whether storing copyrighted data for AI training constitutes infringement of ANI’s copyright;
ii. whether generating responses using such data would amount to infringement;
iii. whether OpenAI’s use of the copyrighted content of ANI qualifies as ‘fair dealing’ under Section 52 of the Copyright Act, 1957; and
iv. whether Indian Courts have jurisdiction to entertain the present lawsuit considering that the servers of OpenAI are located in the United States of America.
This matter is scheduled for further submissions on April 29, 2025. The outcome of this case will likely have far-reaching implications for AI development and deployment in India and will establish a crucial precedent for how copyright laws apply to AI generated content in India.
[1] Asian News International v. Open AI, CS(COMM) 1028/2024.