The Federation of Indian Publishers filed a copyright case against OpenAI in the Delhi High Court. This adds to a similar ongoing case at the same court, highlighting concerns over the use of copyrighted material by AI systems. The publishers allege unauthorized use of their content, raising questions about intellectual property rights in the digital age.
New Delhi: Indian book publishers, along with their international counterparts, have filed a copyright lawsuit against OpenAI in New Delhi, as announced on Friday.
This lawsuit is part of a broader global effort to prevent the ChatGPT chatbot from accessing proprietary content. Numerous courts worldwide are currently handling claims from authors, news outlets, and musicians who allege that technology companies have used their copyrighted works to train AI services, and they seek the deletion of such content from training datasets.
The New Delhi-based Federation of Indian Publishers brought the case to the Delhi High Court, which is already considering a similar lawsuit against OpenAI. The case represents members of the federation, including major publishers like Bloomsbury, Penguin Random House, Cambridge University Press, and Pan Macmillan, as well as Indian firms Rupa Publications and S.Chand and Co.
Pranav Gupta, general secretary of the federation, stated in an interview about the lawsuit,
“Our ask from the court is that they should stop (OpenAI from) accessing our copyright content. In case they don’t want to do licensing with us, they should delete datasets used in AI training and explain how we will be compensated. This impacts creativity.”
OpenAI has not commented on the allegations or the lawsuit, which was filed in December but is being reported for the first time. The company consistently denied such claims, asserting that its AI systems utilize publicly available data under fair use.
Since the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, OpenAI sparked significant investment and interest in generative AI, raising Rs. 6.6 billion last year. The Indian publishers’ group aims to join Indian news agency ANI’s lawsuit against Microsoft-supported OpenAI, which is the most prominent legal case on this issue in the country.
Siddharth Chandrashekhar, a Mumbai-based lawyer, remarked,
“These cases represent a pivotal moment and can potentially shape the future legal framework on AI in India. The judgment passed here will test the balance between protecting IP and promoting tech advancement.”
In response to the ANI case, OpenAI stated that any order to delete training data would violate its U.S. legal obligations and argued that Indian judges lack jurisdiction over a copyright case against the company since its servers are located abroad.
News agency, which holds a 26% stake in ANI, clarified that it is not involved in the agency’s business practices or operations.
Last year, OpenAI made its first hire in India, bringing on former WhatsApp executive Pragya Misra to manage public policy and partnerships in a country of 1.4 billion people, where millions are going online due to affordable mobile data.
On Friday, a News agency reporter asked ChatGPT for details about the first volume of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, published by Bloomsbury.
The AI provided a chapter-by-chapter summary and highlighted key events, including the climax, but refrained from sharing the actual text, stating,
“I cannot provide the entire text of the book, as it is copyrighted material.”
In November, Penguin Random House announced a global initiative to include a statement on the copyright page of its titles, declaring that “no part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner for the purpose of training AI technologies”.
The Indian federation’s December filing claims to have “credible evidence/information” from its members indicating that OpenAI used their literary works to train its ChatGPT service.
Gupta expressed concern, stating,
“This free tool produces book summaries and extracts; why would people buy books then? This will impact our sales; all members are concerned about this.”
So far, the federation’s plea has been listed before a court registrar in New Delhi, who on January 10 requested a response from OpenAI.
The Case scheduled to hear on January 28.