The Delhi High Court has appointed two amici curiae to assist in ANI’s copyright infringement lawsuit against OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT.
Amici curiae, or ‘friends of the court,’ are individuals or entities with expertise in a subject matter who are brought in to assist judges in complex cases. Recognising the intricate legal and technological dimensions of the ANI vas OpenAI dispute, the court has appointed advocate Adarsh Ramanujan and Dr Arul George Scaria, a professor at the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), as amici curiae, reports MediaNama.
“Considering the range of issues involved in the present suit arising on account of recent technological advancements vis-a-vis copyrights of various copyright owners, this Court is of the view that two Amici Curiae be appointed to assist the Court in this case..,” said the Court order.
Specifically, the court identified four key questions central to the case:
- Data use and copyright: Did OpenAI infringe ANI’s copyright by using its content to train ChatGPT, given India’s Copyright Act, 1957 protect that news?
- AI response and copyright infringement: Does the data generated by ChatGPT constitute copyright infringement?
- Fair Use: The court will also determine whether OpenAI’s use of ANI’s data violates Section 52 of the Copyright Act, 1957.
- Jurisdiction of Courts: Will the Indian Courts hear the plea, considering OpenAI’s servers are in the United States?
“There is no established jurisprudence on the aforesaid issues which arise for consideration,” notes the Court.
The legal battle stems from ANI’s allegations that OpenAI used its data without permission to train its large language models (LLMs). ANI claims that ChatGPT has occasionally produced exact replicas of its content and, in some instances, even attributed fabricated statements to the news agency.
In its lawsuit, ANI has sought an interim injunction to prohibit OpenAI from accessing, reproducing, or distributing its content, including via subscribers.
OpenAI has disputed the allegations on several grounds. It argued that it does not operate in India and does not store any data within the country, challenging the court’s jurisdiction over the matter.
Furthermore, OpenAI claimed that its systems do not reproduce content verbatim in the same expression as the source material, instead generating responses based on patterns and associations.
OpenAI argues that its content usage falls under established legal doctrine, asserting that copyright protections extend to specific expressions rather than underlying concepts or factual information. By emphasising this fundamental principle of intellectual property law, the company seeks to defend its approach to training data and content incorporation.
In June 2024, the Centre for Investigative Reporting sued Microsoft and OpenAI for copyright violation. Eight newspapers owned by Alden Global Capital launched a similar case in May.
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