Copyright Law to Address Complex Issues Raised by Generative AI
London-UK, December 12, 2025
DPIIT Signals Copyright Act Changes: India Confronts the AI Intellectual Property Challenge
The Government of India’s nodal agency for intellectual property, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), has Signals Copyright Act Changes, announcing a comprehensive review of the 1957 Copyright Act.
The move comes in direct response to the massive and unresolved intellectual property challenges presented by the rapid proliferation of Generative AI technologies.
India’s Policy Body to Review Copyright Law is aiming to create a framework that balances the protection of artists and creators—whose copyrighted works are being used to train AI models—with the need to foster innovation within the domestic AI industry, a critical component of India’s digital economy strategy.
The decision to initiate a full review was confirmed by a senior DPIIT official at a symposium in New Delhi. The review will focus on several Complex Issues at the intersection of creation and machine learning.
These issues include the legality of “data scraping”—the large-scale collection of copyrighted material for AI training—and determining the intellectual property status of AI-generated content.
With India positioning itself as a major global hub for AI research and development, the clarity of its Copyright Law framework is crucial for attracting foreign investment and ensuring the protection of its vast creative industries, from Bollywood to the country’s burgeoning design sector.
Headlines Points
Legislative Review:
The DPIIT Signals Copyright Act Changes, launching a full review of the 1957 Copyright Act to address modern technological challenges.
Generative AI Focus:
The review is aimed squarely at the Complex Issues Raised by Generative AI, particularly data scraping and ownership of AI-created content.
Policy Body to Review:
India’s Policy Body to Review Copyright Law is seeking to strike a balance between protecting creators and fostering domestic AI innovation.
Global Precedent:
India’s move follows similar, ongoing legal battles and legislative reviews in the US and the EU concerning AI and IP rights.
Stakeholder Consultation:
The DPIIT has announced a wide-ranging, mandatory consultation period involving artists, publishers, tech firms, and legal experts.
The Complex Issues of Training Data and Authorship
The primary challenge facing the DPIIT’s review is establishing clear rules on the use of copyrighted material for training Large Language Models (LLMs) and image generation AI.
Globally, artists and authors are suing AI companies, arguing that the uncompensated use of their work as training data constitutes mass copyright infringement.
The DPIIT is now grappling with whether to introduce a “Text and Data Mining (TDM) Exception” into Indian law, which would permit AI firms to use copyrighted works for training purposes without specific licensing, a common practice in the EU.
However, any such exception would likely face intense opposition from India’s powerful creative industries, whose livelihoods depend on copyright protection.
The review must therefore consider mechanisms for fair compensation, such as a collective licensing scheme or a mandatory registration process for training data. Furthermore, the review must tackle the thorny issue of authorship.
Should a work created entirely by Generative AI be granted copyright protection? If so, who is the author—the user who wrote the prompt, the developer who built the model, or the AI itself?
# Attracting Investment Through Clarity
India’s decision to proactively Signals Copyright Act Changes positions it ahead of many nations that are waiting for costly, precedent-setting court battles to determine the law.
By embarking on a legislative review now, the DPIIT aims to create a climate of Clarity that is highly attractive to both domestic and international AI investment.
Companies thrive on predictable regulatory environments, and a clear set of rules on intellectual property is essential for the growth of India’s indigenous AI sector.
The DPIIT has announced a wide-ranging consultation with all stakeholders—from Bollywood producers and traditional artists to start-up founders and multinational tech companies.
The process is expected to be protracted, but the outcome will be crucial.
India’s revised Copyright Law will not only define the rights of its own creators but also set a major global precedent for how a large, diverse, and digitally advanced economy navigates the most fundamental intellectual property challenge of the 21st century: ensuring human creativity is protected in the age of the machine.
