The Delhi High Court has declined to restrain OpenAI from using news material published by Asian News International (ANI) for training ChatGPT. The Court held that, at the prima facie stage, such use falls within the "fair dealing" exception under the Copyright Act, 1957, and therefore does not amount to copyright infringement.
Justice Amit Bansal passed the order while dismissing ANI's application seeking interim relief in its copyright infringement suit against OpenAI.
Background of the Case
ANI Media Pvt. Ltd. filed the suit in 2024, alleging that OpenAI had used its copyrighted news reports without permission to train the large language models powering ChatGPT. The news agency argued that storing and using its content for commercial AI development violated its copyright and sought an injunction preventing OpenAI from continuing the practice.
ANI also claimed that ChatGPT had generated incorrect responses attributed to the agency, affecting its reputation.
OpenAI opposed the plea, arguing that the training of AI models using publicly available material is protected under the Copyright Act's fair dealing provisions. It also maintained that facts and news events cannot be monopolised under copyright law.
Court's Observations
Justice Amit Bansal observed that OpenAI's storage of ANI's original works for training ChatGPT is, at this stage, covered by Section 52(1)(a) of the Copyright Act, which provides exceptions for fair dealing in certain circumstances.
The Court observed,
"I am of the prima facie view that OpenAI's act of storing ANI's original works falls under Section 52(1)(a) of the Copyright Act and therefore does not amount to infringement under Section 51."
The Court further held that ANI had not demonstrated that ChatGPT reproduced or memorised its news reports in a manner amounting to copyright infringement.
Referring to the chatbot's responses, the Court said they were not substantially similar to ANI's original literary works. It also noted that ANI had failed to establish that any copyrighted material had been memorised or reproduced by ChatGPT.
On the issue of interim relief, the Court found that ANI had not made out a prima facie case and that the balance of convenience did not favour granting an injunction.
The bench observed that restraining OpenAI at this stage could result in irreparable injury not only to the company but also to the public interest.
Court's Decision
Accordingly, the Delhi High Court dismissed ANI's application for interim injunction and refused to restrain OpenAI from using ANI's content for training ChatGPT during the pendency of the suit.
However, the Court clarified that the copyright suit will continue to be heard on its merits.
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