The Delhi High Court on Friday refused to grant an interim injunction to Asian News International (ANI) in its copyright infringement suit against OpenAI Inc, the maker of ChatGPT. ANI had alleged that ChatGPT reproduced its copyrighted news reports and generated inaccurate responses attributed to the agency, causing reputational harm, according to medianama.com.
Justice Amit Bansal ruled that ANI failed to establish a prima facie case warranting interim relief. The court held that OpenAI’s act of storing ANI’s original works falls under Section 52(1)(a) of the Copyright Act, which exempts such use from infringement. It also found that ChatGPT’s outputs were not substantially similar to ANI’s reports, rejecting claims of memorization and regurgitation, per medianama.com.
The court did, however, rule in ANI’s favor on the issue of territorial jurisdiction, allowing the suit to proceed in Delhi. OpenAI denied the allegations, arguing its use of ANI’s material was transformative and did not amount to copyright infringement, as reported by medianama.com. The ruling clarifies the application of copyright law to AI-generated content in India.
The next hearing will address the substantive claims of copyright infringement, with the court’s interim order setting a precedent on how AI companies can use copyrighted material. The case highlights ongoing legal challenges at the intersection of AI technology and intellectual property rights in India, medianama.com reported.