- The Delhi High Court on Friday (July 24, 2026) refused to grant interim relief to news agency Asian News International (ANI) in its suit, holding prima facie that the company’s use of ANI’s works for training ChatGPT falls within the exception under Section 52(1)(a) of the Copyright Act.
- Justice Amit Bansal stated that OpenAI’s act of storing ANI’s literary works for training its Large Language Models (LLMs) did not amount to copyright infringement.
- The Court also held that responses generated by ChatGPT using Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) were not substantially similar to ANI’s original works and therefore did not infringe copyright.
- The Court observed that restraining OpenAI at this stage would cause irreparable injury not only to the company but also to the public at large.
- The suit, filed by ANI in November 2024, is the first copyright action by an Indian news organisation against OpenAI.
- ANI alleged that OpenAI had used its copyrighted news reports without permission to train ChatGPT and that the chatbot generated responses which copied or closely summarised its reports.
- OpenAI has denied the allegations, maintaining that ANI’s website had been excluded from future training and that ChatGPT did not unlawfully reproduce ANI’s works.
- This case marks the first lawsuit in India against ChatGPT.
The Delhi High Court ruled against an interim injunction sought by ANI, stating that OpenAI's use of its copyrighted works for training ChatGPT does not infringe copyright laws.18
Justice Amit Bansal noted that ANI's claims of copyright violation were unsubstantiated, emphasizing that the outputs generated by ChatGPT were not substantially similar to ANI's original content.2
The court highlighted that granting the injunction would lead to irreparable injury to both OpenAI and the public, as it would hinder technological advancement and access to information.
ANI's lawsuit, the first of its kind in India, alleged that OpenAI exploited its news content for commercial gain without permission.
OpenAI countered that its training processes are transformative and that news facts cannot be copyrighted.
The case has drawn attention from various stakeholders, including media organizations and industry bodies, raising concerns over AI training practices.
The court's decision reflects a growing recognition of the balance between copyright protections and the need for innovation in the digital age.
“The court held that OpenAI's storage of ANI's works for training fell under the fair use exception in Section 52(1)(a) of the Copyright Act. The suit, filed in November 2024, is the first copyright action by an Indian news organisation against OpenAI, with other media bodies later joining as parties.”
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The Indian Express
