Delhi High Court has directed OpenAI to file a response to news agency ANI's copyright infringement appeal. This comes after the same court earlier refused ANI's request for temporary relief, citing a lack of evidence. The core tension is whether LLM training on copyrighted content qualifies as "fair dealing" in India.
How We Got Here
ANI first approached the Delhi HC in April 2025, seeking an injunction against OpenAI for scraping its copyrighted data. In July 2026, the court denied ANI interim relief, stating the news agency had not provided sufficient evidence of infringement.
The Numbers
- OpenAI must submit its formal response to ANI’s petition before the next hearing on December 5.
- Broadband India Forum (BIF) has sought to intervene, arguing that Large Language Models do not violate the Copyright Act.
- ANI contends OpenAI’s use of its copyrighted news content for commercial LLM training is not "fair dealing" under the Copyright Act, 1957.
- News agencies like Times of India and Indian Express have separately partnered with OpenAI for 'discoverability' on ChatGPT.
What Happens Next
🇮🇳 Why This Matters for India
For AI product managers in Bangalore, this ruling will define the legal guardrails for data sourcing and licensing, directly impacting model development costs.
The Take
This case is setting the stage for India’s unique stance on AI data rights, potentially forcing licensing standards that other jurisdictions are still debating. Expect this to significantly impact smaller Indian generative AI startups relying on vast datasets without existing media partnerships.
Source:
MediaNama ↗