OpenAI, the American research company that created ChatGPT, is banking on a jurisdictional issue as a defence, among others, in the copyright infringement suit filed by the New Delhi news agency Asian News International (ANI) in November 2024.

The San Francisco-based AI firm told the Delhi High Court that the data it uses for training its large language models (LLMs) are stored outside India and that the training itself also takes place outside the country.

ANI accused OpenAI of using its copyrighted news articles without permission to train ChatGPT and its other AI models, adding that the articles are permanently stored in Open AI’s database.

With the training database stored outside India and the training itself taking place outside as well, this means OpenAI’s act of using ANI’s copyrighted materials is not covered under India’s copyright law. Therefore, OpenAI is not liable for copyright infringement.

“OpenAI argues that the Delhi High Court lacks jurisdiction over the case, given its operations and servers are based outside India. However, the Delhi High Court has summoned OpenAI in its most recent orders,” said Gautam K.M., a partner at Krishnamurthy & Co in Mumbai.

“Since ANI is based in India and the alleged harm – misuse of their content, reputational damage – occurred in India, the Delhi High Court is more likely to hear the case. Courts in India have also shown a willingness to assert jurisdiction over foreign digital entities if the impact is local,” Gautam shared.

He added there is strong public and judicial sentiment for local media in India, with the courts often leaning toward protecting national interests and local

businesses. This is especially so in cases where the other party is a powerful foreign tech company.

“Indian law is more protective of content creators, and as a country which lacks a proper legal framework for generative AI, OpenAI must depend on international jurisprudence and the instances of defence sought in similar cases internationally. It will be interesting to see if the Indian courts would depend on or rely on such defences taken internationally,” said Gautam.

- Espie Angelica A. de Leon