ANI sues OpenAI for unauthorized scraping of news content
News agency ANI filed a copyright infringement suit against OpenAI in Delhi High Court, alleging unauthorized use of its content. ANI claims OpenAI accesses its material through licensed subscribers and generates responses based on ANI headlines, despite OpenAI's denials. OpenAI argues that news articles are not protected by copyright and that it does not directly access ANI's content.
What happened
ANI filed a copyright infringement plea against OpenAI in the Delhi High Court, alleging unauthorised use of its news content. Advocate Sidhanth Kumar, appearing for ANI, argued that while OpenAI denied directly accessing ANI's material, it continued to obtain content through ANI's licensed subscribers such as Economic Times.
ANI presented evidence including a screenshot of OpenAI generating responses based on ANI headlines, and described an instance where an exclusive subscriber-only interview posted at 2:22 PM appeared on OpenAI's platform. OpenAI's Senior Advocate Amit Sibal maintained that quotations from public figures were factual and not subject to copyright, and that ANI had not established clear copyright infringement.
Reported impact
ANI argued that its journalistic expression was protected under copyright law, citing the Supreme Court's ruling in RG Anand v. Delux Films that facts are not subject to copyright but the manner of presentation remains protected. ANI stated that its agreements ensured exclusivity over content created by both full-time staff and consultants.
Index analysis
Advocate Kumar argued that the infringement began at the stage of data collection, stating that even search engines require a license to reproduce content and OpenAI cannot claim exemption by calling itself a search engine. He asserted that Sections 17 and 18 of the Copyright Act clearly establish that ANI holds complete rights over the content it produces.
Governance controls
The Delhi High Court scheduled the hearing for March 28, 2025, and directed all written submissions to be filed before the next hearing.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.