Digital News Publishers Association joins ANI in accusing OpenAI of copyright infringement in Delhi High Court

The Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA) has sought to intervene in a copyright infringement suit filed by Asian News International (ANI) OpenAI before the Delhi High Court, over the alleged unauthorized use of online news content to train and operate ChatGPT [ANI Media Pvt Ltd V/s Open AI Inc & Anr]..Justice Amit Bansal today issued notice on the intervention applications filed by DNPA, which has sought to be impleaded as a party to ANI's suit. .The Court added that the scope of the copyright suit cannot be widened by the intervenors."In the event the Court allows the intervention application, the scope of the suit shall not be expanded and the intervenors would be confined to make submissions on the legal issues arising in this case," it said. It further took strong objection to the publication of OpenAI’s written submissions in the media before it was heard today.“Just because you are in the business of publishing news, everything can’t be reported. We have to be guarded on this. Obviously we will ask them to restrain,” Justice Bansal remarked.The Court also asked DNPA why it opted to file an intervention application instead of filing a separate lawsuit. However, it eventually issued notice on the intervention plea. ANI did not oppose the intervention..Meanwhile, Open AI sought time to reply to the intervention application. Its counsel, Senior Advocate Amit Sibal argued that DNPA did not have authorisation to file such an application. In response, the Court has asked DNPA to file a resolution to show that the proposed intervention is authorised. Sibal added that the intervenors have raised new issues and argued against widening the scope of the copyright case. "They (DNPA) are alleging that we (OpenAI) are going behind paywall to get access to matters not publicly available. The book publishers and journal publishers have a different issue from ANI," Sibal said. He also raised a preliminary objection that Indian courts do not have the territorial jurisdiction to hear the case against the US-based OpenAI. This was the stance taken in OpenAI's reply to ANI's suit as well. .Sibal submitted that the model training for ChatGPT happens outside India. For an Indian court to hold jurisdiction to hear this case, the alleged copyright infringement should have arisen within India, he said.He added that ANI's grievance is covered under OpenAI’s Terms of Use which confers jurisdiction on courts in California, USA."The aspect of territorial jurisdiction will be considered while deciding the application for interim injunction," the Court replied.It fixed three dates for further hearing - February 21, March 11 and March 18, 2025..ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot developed by OpenAI that answers queries of its users, like a digital assistant. It is capable of learning from interactions and adapting its behavior to meet user preferences.In its suit, ANI contended that original content published by the news agency is being exploited by OpenAI for commercial gain.ANI also claimed that ChatGPT is giving certain false information and citing ANI as the source for it. This poses a threat to ANI’s reputation and may lead to the spread of fake news, the news agency has arguedThe DNPA - an organisation of several media outlets including ABP, Mathrabhumi, Hindustan Times, NDTV, The Hindu, The Indian Express, The New Indian Express, Zee News, Dainik Bhaskar, India Today, India TV, The Times of India, The Free Press Journal, Malayala Manorama and others - has now joined ANI in accusing OpenAI and its AI chatbot of copyright infringement..Senior Advocate Saikrishna represented DNPA today. Advocate Sidhant Kumar appeared for ANI.Amici Curiae Adarsh Ramanujan and Arul George Scaria were also present for today's hearing.Along with Senior Advocate Amit Sibal, OpenAI is being represented by a team comprising advocates Sanjeev Kapoor, Madhav Khosla, and Nirupam Lodha from Khaitan & Co.