Delhi High Court declines interim injunction for ANI against OpenAI

The Delhi High Court on Friday denied a request for an interim injunction sought by news agency Asian News International (ANI) against OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. The court stated that ANI had not met the threshold to establish a prima facie case for interim relief, though it ruled in ANI's favor on territorial jurisdiction.

ANI had alleged that ChatGPT reproduced its copyrighted news reports and generated inaccurate information attributed to the agency, causing reputational harm. OpenAI contested these claims, arguing its use of content was transformative and did not constitute copyright infringement.

The court reasoned that OpenAI's storing of ANI's works likely fell under a fair dealing exception in India's Copyright Act. It also found that ChatGPT's output was not substantially similar to ANI's original reports and that granting an injunction could cause irreparable harm to both OpenAI and the public.

This decision, while addressing only the interim stage, offers significant insight into how Indian courts might approach AI training on copyrighted material. It marks one of the first substantive judicial findings in India on this issue, amidst a growing global trend of similar lawsuits against AI companies.