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India’s moment to restoring balance to copyright

February 18, 2026 5 min read Science & Technology Polity & Governance GS2 GS3
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What Happened

  • India's Copyright Act, 1957 is under review to address the tension between rigid copyright protections and the emerging needs of AI development, public access, and technological innovation.
  • The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) constituted an eight-member committee on April 28, 2025 to study generative AI's implications for copyright law.
  • On December 8, 2025, the committee released a Working Paper (Part I) on Generative AI and Copyright, proposing a statutory licensing framework for AI training on copyrighted works.
  • A landmark case — ANI Media v. OpenAI — filed in the Delhi High Court in November 2024 — is testing whether training AI models on copyrighted works without consent constitutes infringement.
  • Critics argue that Section 52's closed list of fair dealing exceptions is too narrow for the digital age and does not keep pace with global copyright reform trends.

Static Topic Bridges

The Copyright Act, 1957 is India's primary legislation governing the protection of literary, artistic, musical, cinematographic, and other creative works. Copyright subsists for the author's lifetime plus 60 years (for most works). Section 52 sets out a closed list of "fair dealing" exceptions — acts that do not constitute infringement — including private or personal use, research, criticism, review, and reporting of current events. Unlike the broad "fair use" doctrine in U.S. copyright law (which applies a four-factor flexible test), India's Section 52 is exhaustive and strictly construed. This means any use not listed — including AI training on large corpora of copyrighted text — does not automatically qualify as non-infringing.

  • Copyright Act, 1957 — enacted under Union List Entry 49 (patents, inventions, designs, copyright) and Entry 13 (education) overlap; IP falls under Union List Entry 49
  • Protection duration: Author's lifetime + 60 years (literary/artistic); 60 years from publication (cinematographic works)
  • Section 52 — closed list of fair dealing exceptions (not a general "fair use" doctrine)
  • Section 52(1)(a) — private or personal use, including research
  • Section 52(1)(i) — reproduction for judicial or administrative proceedings
  • Section 2(d)(vi) — computer-generated works: "author" is the person who causes it to be created

Connection to this news: The DPIIT's Working Paper rejects a blanket Section 52 fair use defence for commercial-scale AI training, meaning the current law creates a default "infringement" position for AI developers who train on Indian-published copyrighted material.

Generative AI systems (such as large language models and image generators) require training on enormous datasets that typically include copyrighted texts, articles, and images. Three legal questions arise: (1) Does training on copyrighted works require a licence? (2) Who owns copyright in AI-generated output? (3) Can AI systems be designated as "authors"? India's current law gives a tentative "yes" to (3) for computer-generated works under Section 2(d)(vi), where the "person who causes the work to be created" is the author — but this provision was drafted for simpler algorithmic systems, not autonomous generative AI. The DPIIT Working Paper focuses on question (1), proposing a statutory licensing ("compulsory licence") framework under a proposed body called the Copyright Royalties Collective for AI Training (CRCAT).

  • DPIIT Working Paper (December 8, 2025): statutory licensing for AI training, opt-out not permitted for copyright holders
  • ANI Media v. OpenAI (Delhi High Court, November 2024) — first major Indian copyright case against an AI company
  • CRCAT (proposed) — Copyright Royalties Collective for AI Training to manage licences and disburse royalties
  • Section 2(d)(vi) — computer-generated works: "person who causes" = author (but "person" must be human)
  • Berne Convention (1886) — India is a signatory; requires minimum protection of author's lifetime + 50 years (India provides + 60 years)

Connection to this news: The article argues that India has a "moment" to set forward-looking copyright reform that neither criminalises AI development nor strips creators of fair compensation — a balance that requires legislative imagination rather than preserving a 1957-era statute unchanged.

Intellectual Property Rights — Constitutional and Policy Framework

Intellectual Property (IP) policy in India is governed at the Union level, with Parliament having exclusive power under List I (Union List) Entry 49 — "patents, inventions and designs; copyright; trade marks and merchandise marks." India's National IPR Policy (2016) adopted the motto "Creative India; Innovative India" and aimed to foster innovation while ensuring IP rights do not create barriers to access. The broader debate on copyright reform mirrors the TRIPS Agreement (Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, 1994, WTO) obligations, which require minimum standards of IP protection but allow flexibilities (exceptions, compulsory licences) that developing countries like India can leverage.

  • Union List Entry 49 — patents, inventions, designs, copyright
  • National IPR Policy, 2016 — India's overarching IP policy framework
  • TRIPS Agreement (WTO, 1994) — minimum IP standards; Article 13 (three-step test for copyright exceptions)
  • Article 13, TRIPS — exceptions must be (a) certain special cases, (b) not conflict with normal exploitation, (c) not unreasonably prejudice right holder
  • India's Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012 — introduced digital provisions, expanded performance rights, addressed parallel imports

Connection to this news: India's reform debate occurs within the TRIPS framework — the statutory licensing model proposed by DPIIT must comply with the TRIPS three-step test, making international IP obligations a constraint on domestic reform options.

Key Facts & Data

  • Copyright Act, 1957 — primary statute; significant amendment in 2012
  • DPIIT 8-member committee constituted: April 28, 2025
  • Working Paper (Part I) released: December 8, 2025
  • Proposed framework: statutory licensing + Copyright Royalties Collective for AI Training (CRCAT)
  • ANI Media v. OpenAI: Delhi High Court, filed November 2024 — landmark AI copyright case
  • Section 52, Copyright Act — closed list of fair dealing exceptions
  • Protection term: author's lifetime + 60 years for literary works
  • Union List Entry 49 — Parliament's exclusive competence over copyright
  • TRIPS Agreement (1994): India's international copyright obligations