Context: November 2024 is the month that Generative AI copyright litigation went international on a large scale. The first step was that German music rights collecting society GEMA sued OpenAI in the Munich I Regional Court last week (November 14, 2024 ai fray article).
What’s new: The latest AI lawsuit by a right holder will be discussed at an initial court hearing tomorrow (November 19, 2024). Ani Media Pvt Ltd., better known under its Asian News International brand, has filed a complaint against OpenAI with the Delhi High Court. It is most likely a copyright case. [Update: A Hindustan Times article says the case is about OpenAI’s use of ANI’s content.]
Direct impact: With almost 1.3 billion inhabitants, India is a major market, and it is one of the global tech industry’s centers. For now, the details of the complaint are not known.
Wider ramifications: Wikipedia already got a taste of Indian litigation. The online encyclopedia organization was sued by the the same plaintiff in the same court, and sought to excuse the delayed filing of its defenses with the fact that is not based in that country. However, a judge said: “We can’t stand it any longer. If you don’t like India, don’t [operate] here.” (September 5, 2024 Free Press Journal article)
ANI Media’s lawsuit against OpenAI was filed by the Unum Law firm (firm’s website).
India is a member of international organizations concerned with the protection of intellectual property. It would be a mistake to believe that India condones infringement, but the question is, of course, going to be whether training an AI system on copyrighted material constitutes infringement in the first place.
India does not have a broad fair use exception like the United States. India allows what is called fair dealing and more narrowly defined. There are also some statutory exceptions.
The question of whether AI systems may be trained on copyrighted content under Indian law will be a question of first impression.
Justice Amit Bansal will hold an initial hearing in Ani Media v. OpenAI tomorrow. Also tomorrow, Germany’s GEMA will discuss its OpenAI lawsuit with the press, but on background only.