India Forms Expert Panel to Review Copyright Law Amid AI Challenges

India panel to review copyright law amid legal challenges to OpenAI

NEW DELHI, May 6 (Reuters) - India has set up a panel to review if existing copyright law is sufficient to tackle AI-related disputes, an official memo showed, at a time when OpenAI faces legal challenges stemming from accusations of exploiting copyrighted material. A case in the high court in New Delhi by a group of top Indian news outlets and book publishers who say the firm uses their content without permission to help train its ChatGPT chatbot could reshape how the sector operates in India. OpenAI has denied wrongdoing. The memo, which is not public, said the commerce ministry set up a panel of eight experts last month to examine issues related to AI and their implications for India's copyright law. The experts have been tasked to "identify and analyze the legal and policy issues arising from the use of artificial intelligence in the context of copyright," the memo added. The panel of intellectual property lawyers, government officials and industry executives will also examine the adequacy of the Copyright Act of 1957 in resolving such concerns and make recommendations to the government, it said. India's commerce and infotech ministries did not respond to Reuters' queries. The copyright law has been at the centre of the OpenAI lawsuits in India. Billionaire Gautam Adani's NDTV, along with the Indian Express and Hindustan Times newspapers and the Digital News Publishers Association, which groups top news outlets, say they share concerns over copyright law violations by AI platforms using their data to train such apps. OpenAI says it uses public data to train its chatbot, which is not a violation of India's copyright law, and also provides an opt-out for websites that do not want their data used. Courts around the world are hearing claims by authors, news organisations and musicians which accuse technology companies of using their copyrighted work to train AI services without permission or payment. Reporting by Arpan Chaturvedi and Munsif Vengattil; Editing by Aditya Kalra and Clarence Fernandez Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab Suggested Topics:Boards, Policy & Regulation 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.

India Panel to Review Copyright Law Amid Legal Challenges to OpenAI

The commerce ministry set up a panel of eight experts to examine AI uses India has set up a panel to review if existing copyright law is sufficient to tackle AI-related disputes, an official memo showed, at a time when OpenAI faces legal challenges stemming from accusations of exploiting copyrighted material. A case in the high court in New Delhi by a group of top Indian news outlets and book publishers who say the firm uses their content without permission to help train its ChatGPT chatbot could reshape how the sector operates in India. OpenAI has denied wrongdoing. The memo, which is not public, said the commerce ministry set up a panel of eight experts last month to examine issues related to AI and their implications for India's copyright law. The experts have been tasked to "identify and analyse the legal and policy issues arising from the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the context of copyright," the memo added. The panel of intellectual property lawyers, government officials and industry executives will also examine the adequacy of the Copyright Act of 1957 in resolving such concerns and make recommendations to the government, it said. India's commerce and infotech ministries did not respond to Reuters' queries. The copyright law has been at the centre of the OpenAI lawsuits in India. Billionaire Gautam Adani's NDTV, along with the Indian Express and Hindustan Times newspapers and the Digital News Publishers Association, which groups top news outlets, say they share concerns over copyright law violations by AI platforms using their data to train such apps. OpenAI says it uses public data to train its chatbot, which is not a violation of India's copyright law, and also provides an opt-out for websites that do not want their data used. Courts around the world are hearing claims by authors, news organisations and musicians which accuse technology companies of using their copyrighted work to train AI services without permission or payment. © Thomson Reuters 2025

India panel to review copyright law amid legal challenges to OpenAI

The memo, which is not public, said the commerce ministry set up a panel of eight experts last month to examine issues related to AI and their implications for India's copyright law. The experts have been tasked to "identify and analyze the legal and policy issues arising from the use of artificial intelligence in the context of copyright," the memo added.India has set up a panel to review if existing copyright law is sufficient to tackle AI-related disputes, an official memo showed, at a time when OpenAI faces legal challenges stemming from accusations of exploiting copyrighted material. A case in the high court in New Delhi by a group of top Indian news outlets and book publishers who say the firm uses their content without permission to help train its ChatGPT chatbot could reshape how the sector operates in India. OpenAI has denied wrongdoing. The memo, which is not public, said the commerce ministry set up a panel of eight experts last month to examine issues related to AI and their implications for India's copyright law. The experts have been tasked to "identify and analyze the legal and policy issues arising from the use of artificial intelligence in the context of copyright," the memo added. The panel of intellectual property lawyers, government officials and industry executives will also examine the adequacy of the Copyright Act of 1957 in resolving such concerns and make recommendations to the government, it said. India's commerce and infotech ministries did not respond to Reuters' queries. The copyright law has been at the centre of the OpenAI lawsuits in India. Billionaire Gautam Adani's NDTV, along with the Indian Express and Hindustan Times newspapers and the Digital News Publishers Association, which groups top news outlets, say they share concerns over copyright law violations by AI platforms using their data to train such apps. OpenAI says it uses public data to train its chatbot, which is not a violation of India's copyright law, and also provides an opt-out for websites that do not want their data used. Courts around the world are hearing claims by authors, news organisations and musicians which accuse technology companies of using their copyrighted work to train AI services without permission or payment.

Govt Sets Up Panel To Review Copyright Law Amid AI Disputes

This comes at a time when a slew of news platforms, both globally and domestically, have sued OpenAI to prevent the AI giant from accessing their proprietary content The Centre has reportedly set up a panel to review existing copyright law amid a rise in artificial intelligence (AI)-related disputes. The Union commerce ministry established a committee of eight experts last month to examine issues related to AI and their implications on India's copyright law, Reuters reported, citing an official memo. The panel includes intellectual property lawyers, government officials and industry executives who will ascertain whether the Copyright Act, 1957 is adequate to resolve AI-related concerns, the report said. The panel members have been directed to identify and analyse legal and policy issues arising from the use of AI in the context of copyright issues. Consequently, the committee will submit its report to the government. The development comes at a time when a slew of news platforms, both globally and domestically, have sued OpenAI to prevent the AI giant from accessing their proprietary content. The Legal Battle For Copyright At the heart of concerns flagged by news platforms are the use of their copyrighted material by AI companies to train their foundational models, without licence, or permission or payment. In India, ANI filed a lawsuit before the Delhi High Court (HC) against OpenAI last year. In January this year, media outlets, including NDTV, Network18, the Indian Express and the Hindustan Times, also joined the lawsuit against the ChatGPT creator. The 135-page case filing made by 20 companies and Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA) in the court claims that OpenAI's "conduct" constitutes "a clear and present danger to the valuable copyrights" of DNPA members and other outlets. Besides, the Federation of Indian Publishers (FIP) also moved the Delhi HC earlier this year against OpenAI on behalf of all its members, including Rupa Publications, S Chand and Co, Bloomsbury, Penguin Random House, Cambridge University Press and others. In February, major music labels such as T-Series, Saregarama and Sony also expressed their willingness to join the ongoing copyright lawsuit against the ChatGPT developer in the Delhi HC. At the time, the HC asked OpenAI to file a response regarding the application filed by industry body Indian Music Industry (IMI) to join the suit. ANI's plea has alleged that ChatGPT "reproduced verbatim or substantially similar extracts" of the news agency's works in response to user prompts. The lawsuit also claims that OpenAI exploited ANI's content for its commercial gain by using the new agency's content to train its large language models (LLMs). In March this year, ANI, during a hearing, told the Delhi HC that the usage of its content by the ChatGPT maker causes dilution of its market, thus leading to unfair competition. Notably, the Sam Altman-led AI giant previously told the HC that it is not obligated to enter into partnerships with these media outlets to use their content and urged the HC to dismiss infringement claims filed against it.

India panel to review copyright law amid legal challenges to OpenAI

NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India has set up a panel to review if existing copyright law is sufficient to tackle AI-related disputes, an official memo showed, at a time when OpenAI faces legal challenges stemming from accusations of exploiting copyrighted material. A case in the high court in New Delhi by a group of top Indian news outlets and book publishers who say the firm uses their content without permission to help train its ChatGPT chatbot could reshape how the sector operates in India. OpenAI has denied wrongdoing. The memo, which is not public, said the commerce ministry set up a panel of eight experts last month to examine issues related to AI and their implications for India's copyright law. The experts have been tasked to "identify and analyze the legal and policy issues arising from the use of artificial intelligence in the context of copyright," the memo added. The panel of intellectual property lawyers, government officials and industry executives will also examine the adequacy of the Copyright Act of 1957 in resolving such concerns and make recommendations to the government, it said. India's commerce and infotech ministries did not respond to Reuters' queries. The copyright law has been at the centre of the OpenAI lawsuits in India. Billionaire Gautam Adani's NDTV, along with the Indian Express and Hindustan Times newspapers and the Digital News Publishers Association, which groups top news outlets, say they share concerns over copyright law violations by AI platforms using their data to train such apps. OpenAI says it uses public data to train its chatbot, which is not a violation of India's copyright law, and also provides an opt-out for websites that do not want their data used. Courts around the world are hearing claims by authors, news organisations and musicians which accuse technology companies of using their copyrighted work to train AI services without permission or payment. (Reporting by Arpan Chaturvedi and Munsif Vengattil; Editing by Aditya Kalra and Clarence Fernandez)