This is an archive article published on November 19, 2024
Delhi High Court seeks OpenAI’s response in copyright infringement suit by ANI
In the first such suit alleging copyright infringement by OpenAI, the news agency has sought damages of Rs 2 crore and wants the Delhi High Court to restrain the artificial intelligence company from using ANI’s works in any manner.
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought the response of OpenAI in a suit filed by news agency ANI alleging that the artificial intelligence research organisation used its copyrighted material for AI training purposes. The first-of-its-kind suit in Indian jurisdiction was filed against Open AI Inc (OAI) and Open AI OpCo LLC.
The ANI, in its suit, is tentatively seeking damages of Rs 2 crore and is seeking that the court pass a decree of permanent and mandatory injunction restraining OAI or any person acting on their behalf from storing, publishing, reproducing or in any manner using ANI’s works.
Open AI on the other hand, through its counsel senior advocate Amit Sibal, submitted before the court of Justice Amit Bansal that subsequent to a legal notice issued to the San Francisco-based company by ANI Media Pvt Ltd in September, as of October 2024, OAI has blocklisted ANI’s domain. This, in effect means that it is not using material from the domain for training its large language models (LLMs).
The court also recorded that “given the range of issues involved in the present suit as well as the issues arising on account of latest technological advancements vis-a-vis copyrights of various copyright owners, this court is of the view that an amicus curiae be appointed.” The court is expected to disclose the details of the amicus curiae so appointed later in its publicly available order.
ANI, through its counsel Sidhant Kumar Marwah, has alleged copyright infringement by OAI and has listed “three broad buckets of cause of action”. This includes the use of publicly available copyrighted material of ANI being used by OAI to train their LLMs. A second cause of action, as Marwah argued, is that once a query is put on ChatGPT, it provides “verbatim or substantially similar (content to) my copyrighted material which has been used by you (OAI) to train your software.”
A third aspect is also of hallucinatory responses being provided by ChatGPT, while falsely attributing it to ANI, the agency alleged.
Marwah informed Justice Bansal, “Third aspect, which is most problematic not only from private rights but also public rights perspective is, it gives false attribution…e.g. Rahul Gandhi gave an interview to ANI. In fact no such interview was given…”
Sibal, meanwhile, contested the territorial jurisdiction for adjudication of the matter. Noting that OAI is facing 13 lawsuits in the USA, two in Canada and one in Germany, Sibal submitted that while the software is “a force for good, it is not perfect”.
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“No court (globally in the multiple suits OAI is facing) has found prima facie infringement of copyright… I’m always transparent about what I do… There is no monopoly on facts…Copyright does not protect facts, it protects expression… No suit in India, this is the first. I don’t access anything illegally. I have been operating since 2022, I’m not located in India, my servers are located abroad, I do not reproduce any material in India, training also doesn’t happen in India,” Sibal submitted, pointing out that thus ANI has no cause of action or reason to approach a court in the country.
“The way the model works, when a query is made, the software does learn from information from various sources but does not access the database… It is not that ANI’s information is stored on a database,” Sibal argued.
Responding to the aspect of hallucinatory answers, Sibal submitted, “There are certain instances when there are false attributions… These are softwares, they are automated…through manipulation by way of query you can have manipulated answers.”
While Justice Bansal refused to grant any ad interim injunction on Tuesday, the court posted the matter for further consideration on January 28.
Sohini Ghosh is a Senior Correspondent at The Indian Express. Previously based in Ahmedabad covering Gujarat, she recently moved to the New Delhi bureau, where she primarily covers legal developments at the Delhi High Court
Professional Profile
Background: An alumna of the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), she previously worked with ET NOW before joining The Indian Express.
Core Beats: Her reporting is currently centered on the Delhi High Court, with a focus on high-profile constitutional disputes, disputes over intellectual property, criminal and civil cases, issues of human rights and regulatory law (especially in the areas of technology and healthcare).
Earlier Specialty: In Gujarat, she was known for her rigorous coverage in the beats of crime, law and policy, and social justice issues, including the 2002 riot cases, 2008 serial bomb blast case, 2016 flogging of Dalits in Una, among others.
She has extensively covered health in the state, including being part of the team that revealed the segregation of wards at the state’s largest government hospital on lines of faith in April 2020.
With Ahmedabad being a UNESCO heritage city, she has widely covered urban development and heritage issues, including the redevelopment of the Sabarmati Ashram
Recent Notable Articles (Late 2025)
Her recent reporting from the Delhi High Court covers major political, constitutional, corporate, and public-interest legal battles:
High-Profile Case Coverage
She has extensively covered the various legal battles - including for compensation under the aegis of North East Delhi Riots Claims Commission - pertaining to the 2020 northeast Delhi riots, as well as 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
She has also led coverage at the intersection of technology and governance, and its impact on the citizenry, from, and beyond courtrooms — such as the government’s stakeholder consultations for framing AI-Deepfake policy.
Signature Style
Sohini is recognized for her sustained reporting from courtrooms and beyond. She specialises in breaking down dense legal arguments to make legalese accessible for readers. Her transition from Gujarat to Delhi has seen her expand her coverage on regulatory, corporate and intellectual property law, while maintaining a strong commitment to human rights and lacuna in the criminal justice system.
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