Indian music labels seek to join copyright lawsuit against OpenAI
Bollywood music labels including T-Series, Saregama and Sony have applied to join a copyright lawsuit against OpenAI in a New Delhi court, alleging unauthorized use of sound recordings to train ChatGPT. The case highlights broader concerns about how AI systems are trained on copyrighted content.
What happened
On 14 February 2025, the Indian Music Industry (IMI) group, T-Series and Saregama India applied to a New Delhi court to join a copyright lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging unauthorized use of sound recordings to train AI models. The music labels want to intervene in a lawsuit launched in 2024 by Indian news agency ANI that accused OpenAI's ChatGPT of using its content without permission to train the chatbot.
OpenAI has contested the case on jurisdictional grounds, arguing that Indian courts lack jurisdiction as the company is U.S.-based with servers abroad. OpenAI stated it follows fair-use principles in employing publicly available data to build its AI models and is not obligated to enter into partnership deals with media groups to use publicly available content.
Reported impact
The music labels are concerned that OpenAI and other AI systems can extract lyrics, music compositions and sound recordings from the internet. The case is seen as shaping the future of how AI models use copyright content in India.
Index analysis
T-Series is one of India's largest music record labels, releasing about 2,000 sound records or songs annually. Saregama, more than 100 years old, owns a repertoire of famed Indian singers such as Mohammed Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar, and the IMI group also represents global names such as Sony Music and Warner Music.
Governance controls
The Delhi High Court hearing on 17 February 2025 heard the music industry's application to intervene. Justice Amit Bansal observed that the scope of the suit could not be expanded indefinitely and the next hearing was scheduled for 21 February 2025.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.