Delhi HC directs decision on copyright plea for AI-created artistic work

Delhi HC directs the Registrar of Copyrights to decide on AI-generated artwork copyright registration by researcher Stephen L. Thaler.

The Delhi High Court on Thursday (April 9, 2026) asked the Registrar of Copyrights to decide an application seeking copyright registration of an artistic work generated autonomously by an artificial intelligence (AI) system.

The court’s direction came on a petition by U.S. researcher Stephen L. Thaler, who is seeking registration of copyright in the artistic work titled ‘A Recent Entrance to Paradise’, which was generated by the AI system known as DABUS. He said, his application could be one of the earliest applications in India seeking copyright registration of an artistic work generated by AI.

The court took note of the submission made by the Registrar of Copyrights that the hearing of Mr. Thaler’s copyright application is scheduled on April 27. Following this, the court directed that Mr. Thaler’s application be decided within a period of eight weeks from the date of the hearing.

In his plea, filed through advocates Ankit Sahni, Kritika Sahni, Chirag Ahluwalia and Aman Sinha, Mr. Thaler said he filed his application before the office of Registrar of Copyrights on March 29, 2022 seeking registration of copyright in respect of the artistic work titled ‘A Recent Entrance to Paradise’.

During examination of the application, the Registrar of Copyrights issued a discrepancy letter in July 2023 stating that under law only a natural person could be the author of an artistic work, calling upon Mr. Thaler to amend the details relating to the author mentioned in the application and provide the proper name of the author.

Mr. Thaler, through his lawyer, responded that the work constitutes a computer-generated work within the meaning of Section 2( d)(vi) of the Copyright Act, 1957, which provides that in relation to a computer-generated work, the author shall be the person who causes the work to be created.