Hollywood and Bollywood Unite to Protect Content from AI in India

Hollywood, Bollywood groups lobby Indian panel to protect content from AI models

NEW DELHI, Oct 8 (Reuters) - Hollywood and Bollywood groups are lobbying an Indian panel for stricter copyright protection that will prevent artificial intelligence firms from using their intellectual property to train AI models, letters show. AI companies remain at loggerheads with content owners globally and governments are fast developing regulations that lay down rules for the new technology. While Japan gives broad exemptions to AI firms in using copyrighted content, the European Union has stricter rules that allow content owners to opt-out of such use. The movie industry is particularly concerned that AI tools could scrape their copyrighted videos, images and clips online - like trailers and promos - and more critically ingest pirated content onto their platforms. India's current copyright law does not account for use by AI. The government formed a panel this year consisting of lawyers, government officials and industry executives to review if existing copyright law is sufficient to tackle AI-related disputes, and make recommendations. WORRIED FILM STUDIOS LOBBYING HARD Motion Picture Association (MPA), which represents Warner Bros (WBD.O), opens new tab, Paramount and Netflix (NFLX.O), opens new tab, and the Producers Guild of India have argued India should not tinker with its copyright law and instead promote a licencing regime. In response to the panel's private inquiry on why India should not allow blanket training exceptions to bolster AI innovation, MPA India Managing Director Uday Singh said in an August 2 letter the move could "undermine the incentive to create new works and erode copyright protection in India." The Indian guild's CEO Nitin Tej Ahuja told the panel in his letter "licensing copyrighted works is essential for creators' revenue and business sustainability." MPA declined to comment, while the guild did not respond to Reuters queries on the letters, which are not public. India's commerce ministry official Himani Pande, who chairs the panel, did not respond to Reuters queries. The panel is finalising its recommendations which it will present to senior officials in coming weeks, a source with direct knowledge said. INDIA'S VIBRANT MOVIE MARKET India has one of the world's most vibrant film industries. A Deloitte-MPA study in May said India's film, TV and online content industry generated $13.1 billion in revenues last year, growing 18% each year since 2019. The deliberations come just when a Bollywood couple has gone to court to challenge YouTube's AI policies after their manipulated videos started spreading online. The film studios' position is in contrast to the Business Software Alliance, which represents AI firms like OpenAI, and which argued in public submissions in July that New Delhi should ensure exceptions to permit lawful AI use. MPA members however remain concerned. The association has said India should not consider allowing use of content in AI models with an opt-out system as it will put the burden of responsibility on the movie studios, a move that could force them to individually track and block sharing of their work on scores of AI platforms. Such exceptions "would hinder future investments, development of high-quality local content," MPA India said. In September, Warner sued AI service Midjourney in Los Angeles by saying it brazenly stole the studio's works to generate images and videos of Batman, Superman, Bugs Bunny and other copyrighted characters. Midjourney maintains the way it trains its AI model amounts to fair use. Reporting by Arpan Chaturvedi and Aditya Kalra; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab * Suggested Topics: * Artificial Intelligence * Constitutional Law * Refining * Political Lobbying Arpan Chaturvedi Thomson Reuters Arpan is a correspondent for Reuters based in New Delhi, where he reports from the courts in India. He joined Reuters in 2022, and has been a part of the companies coverage team reporting on court cases spanning aviation, mining, human rights and other public interest issues. Aditya Kalra Thomson Reuters Aditya Kalra is the Company News Editor for Reuters in India, overseeing business coverage and reporting stories on some of the world's biggest companies. He joined Reuters in 2008 and has in recent years written stories on challenges and strategies of a wide array of companies -- from Amazon, Google and Walmart to Xiaomi, Starbucks and Reliance. He also extensively works on deeply-reported and investigative business stories.

Hollywood, Bollywood groups lobby Indian panel to protect content from AI models

Hollywood and Bollywood groups are urging an Indian panel to strengthen copyright laws, preventing AI firms from using their intellectual property for model training. Content owners advocate for a licensing regime, arguing blanket exceptions would undermine creative incentives and business sustainability. The government panel is finalizing recommendations on this critical issue. Hollywood and Bollywood groups are lobbying an Indian panel for stricter copyright protection that will prevent artificial intelligence firms from using their intellectual property to train AI models, letters show. AI companies remain at loggerheads with content owners globally and governments are fast developing regulations that lay down rules for the new technology. While Japan gives broad exemptions to AI firms in using copyrighted content, the European Union has stricter rules that allow content owners to opt-out of such use. The movie industry is particularly concerned that AI tools could scrape their copyrighted videos, images and clips online - like trailers and promos - and more critically ingest pirated content onto their platforms. India's current copyright law does not account for use by AI. The government formed a panel this year consisting of lawyers, government officials and industry executives to review if existing copyright law is sufficient to tackle AI-related disputes, and make recommendations. Motion Picture Association (MPA), which represents Warner Bros, Paramount and Netflix, and the Producers Guild of India have argued India should not tinker with its copyright law and instead promote a licencing regime. In response to the panel's private inquiry on why India should not allow blanket training exceptions to bolster AI innovation, MPA India Managing Director Uday Singh said in an August 2 letter the move could "undermine the incentive to create new works and erode copyright protection in India." The Indian guild's CEO Nitin Tej Ahuja told the panel in his letter "licensing copyrighted works is essential for creators' revenue and business sustainability." MPA declined to comment, while the guild did not respond to Reuters queries on the letters, which are not public. India's commerce ministry official Himani Pande, who chairs the panel, did not respond to Reuters queries. The panel is finalising its recommendations which it will present to senior officials in coming weeks, a source with direct knowledge said. India has one of the world's most vibrant film industries. A Deloitte-MPA study in May said India's film, TV and online content industry generated $13.1 billion in revenues last year, growing 18% each year since 2019. The deliberations come just when a Bollywood couple has gone to court to challenge YouTube's AI policies after their manipulated videos started spreading online. The film studios' position is in contrast to the Business Software Alliance, which represents AI firms like OpenAI, and which argued in public submissions in July that New Delhi should ensure exceptions to permit lawful AI use. MPA members however remain concerned. The association has said India should not consider allowing use of content in AI models with an opt-out system as it will put the burden of responsibility on the movie studios, a move that could force them to individually track and block sharing of their work on scores of AI platforms. Such exceptions "would hinder future investments, development of high-quality local content," MPA India said. In September, Warner sued AI service Midjourney in Los Angeles by saying it brazenly stole the studio's works to generate images and videos of Batman, Superman, Bugs Bunny and other copyrighted characters. Midjourney maintains the way it trains its AI model amounts to fair use.

Bollywood, Hollywood Groups Want India To Protect Content From AI Models

Indian film producers and Hollywood studios are pressing the Indian government to implement a licensing system to stop artificial intelligence (AI) firms from freely using intellectual property (IP), such as films, songs, and trailers, to train AI models, according to a report by Reuters. The demand follows the government's decision to set up a panel to review whether India's existing copyright law, last revised in 2012, is capable of handling disputes linked to AI-generated works. The committee, chaired by Commerce Ministry official Himani Pande, includes lawyers, policymakers, and industry executives, and is expected to submit its recommendations in the coming weeks. The panel was formed in April after several Indian media outlets, including NDTV, Indian Express, and Hindustan Times, filed a lawsuit accusing OpenAI of using their copyrighted content to train ChatGPT without permission. Notably, OpenAI has denied any wrongdoing, saying it uses publicly available data, and allows websites to opt out of data collection. The outcome of these cases and the panel's recommendations could redefine how AI companies operate in India. The Motion Picture Association (MPA), representing global studios such as Warner Bros., Paramount, and Netflix, and the Producers Guild of India (PGI), has urged the panel to introduce stricter copyright protections. However, they oppose any blanket exemptions for AI developers and instead want a mandatory licensing system. In a letter dated August 2, MPA India Managing Director Uday Singh warned that allowing such blanket exemptions could "undermine the incentive to create new works and erode copyright protection in India". Backing the licensing regime, PGI's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nitin Tej Ahuja wrote that "licensing copyrighted works is essential for creators' revenue and business sustainability". On the other hand, the Business Software Alliance (BSA), representing companies like Microsoft, OpenAI, IBM, and Adobe, has called for a balanced approach to copyright and AI. In its July submission to Pande, BSA urged the Commerce and Industry Ministry to introduce a "Text and Data Mining (TDM) exception" in copyright law to give legal clarity for AI model training. For context, such an exception allows AI and researchers to legally analyse large volumes of text or data to identify patterns, relationships, and insights without infringing copyright. BSA further argued that AI training typically involves statistical analysis of large datasets, and not the reuse of expressive or creative content, and therefore does not violate copyright. "Extracting and using such information does not infringe copyright," BSA said in its submission. It added that allowing lawful data use would spur innovation, research, and global competitiveness, while ensuring copyright owners could seek redress if AI-generated works infringed their rights. BSA also pointed to global examples, such as Japan and Singapore, which have already created legal exceptions for computational data analysis. It cautioned that relying only on licensing frameworks could make AI development inefficient, potentially reinforcing biases in AI models trained on limited datasets. The group further recommended industry-led mechanisms that allow creators to signal whether AI can use their work, similar to 'do-not-crawl' web tools, and targeted measures protecting artists from unauthorised AI-generated digital replicas. Globally, countries are split over how much freedom AI firms should have. Japan allows broad exemptions for AI training, while the European Union enforces stricter rules requiring content owners to opt out if they don't want their work used. However, MPA India has opposed the EU-style system, saying it unfairly shifts the burden of compliance to creators. "Such an approach would force studios to constantly monitor multiple AI platforms and block unauthorised use," the association said. "It would also hinder future investments and the development of high-quality local content," it added. Notably, the debate around AI's interaction with Bollywood's content has intensified in India after Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan filed a case against YouTube for circulating AI-created deepfake videos of them, raising wider concerns about misuse of celebrity likenesses and digital content. Importantly, India's entertainment industry is among the largest in the world: a Deloitte-MPA report released in May revealed that the country's film, television, and online video sectors earned $13.1 billion in FY2024, growing 18% since FY2019. The AI copyright battle is not limited to India. In September, Warner Bros. sued the AI company Midjourney in Los Angeles, accusing it of using copyrighted images of Batman, Superman, and Bugs Bunny without permission. Midjourney claims its practices fall under the "fair use" doctrine in the US. As the review panel in India led by Pande prepares to deliver its recommendations, the government faces a delicate balancing act: encouraging innovation in AI, while safeguarding the rights and earnings of content creators. As such, the decisions made in the coming weeks could set a crucial precedent for how India, and other emerging markets, handle the intersection of AI and IP.

Hollywood, Bollywood groups lobby Indian panel to protect content from AI models

NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Hollywood and Bollywood groups are lobbying an Indian panel for stricter copyright protection that will prevent artificial intelligence firms from using their intellectual property to train AI models, letters show. AI companies remain at loggerheads with content owners globally and governments are fast developing regulations that lay down rules for the new technology. While Japan gives broad exemptions to AI firms in using copyrighted content, the European Union has stricter rules that allow content owners to opt-out of such use. The movie industry is particularly concerned that AI tools could scrape their copyrighted videos, images and clips online - like trailers and promos - and more critically ingest pirated content onto their platforms. India's current copyright law does not account for use by AI. The government formed a panel this year consisting of lawyers, government officials and industry executives to review if existing copyright law is sufficient to tackle AI-related disputes, and make recommendations. WORRIED FILM STUDIOS LOBBYING HARD Motion Picture Association (MPA), which represents Warner Bros, Paramount and Netflix, and the Producers Guild of India have argued India should not tinker with its copyright law and instead promote a licencing regime. In response to the panel's private inquiry on why India should not allow blanket training exceptions to bolster AI innovation, MPA India Managing Director Uday Singh said in an August 2 letter the move could "undermine the incentive to create new works and erode copyright protection in India." The Indian guild's CEO Nitin Tej Ahuja told the panel in his letter "licensing copyrighted works is essential for creators' revenue and business sustainability." MPA declined to comment, while the guild did not respond to Reuters queries on the letters, which are not public. India's commerce ministry official Himani Pande, who chairs the panel, did not respond to Reuters queries. The panel is finalising its recommendations which it will present to senior officials in coming weeks, a source with direct knowledge said. INDIA'S VIBRANT MOVIE MARKET India has one of the world's most vibrant film industries. A Deloitte-MPA study in May said India's film, TV and online content industry generated $13.1 billion in revenues last year, growing 18% each year since 2019. The deliberations come just when a Bollywood couple has gone to court to challenge YouTube's AI policies after their manipulated videos started spreading online. The film studios' position is in contrast to the Business Software Alliance, which represents AI firms like OpenAI, and which argued in public submissions in July that New Delhi should ensure exceptions to permit lawful AI use. MPA members however remain concerned. The association has said India should not consider allowing use of content in AI models with an opt-out system as it will put the burden of responsibility on the movie studios, a move that could force them to individually track and block sharing of their work on scores of AI platforms. Such exceptions "would hinder future investments, development of high-quality local content," MPA India said. In September, Warner sued AI service Midjourney in Los Angeles by saying it brazenly stole the studio's works to generate images and videos of Batman, Superman, Bugs Bunny and other copyrighted characters. Midjourney maintains the way it trains its AI model amounts to fair use. (Reporting by Arpan Chaturvedi and Aditya Kalra; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)