Generative AI Not Bound to Market Links of IndiaMart
Judgment dated 20.5.2026 of the Calcutta High Court Original Side (IP Rights Division) in IP-COM/57/2025 and IA No.GA-COM/1/2025 of India Mart Inter Mesh Limited Vs. Open AI INC and others
Protection of IP Rights – Loss of User Traffic Vs. Open AI & ChatGPT
The petitioner is providing internet-based platform with free and paid listings for variety of products. IndiaMart is being used by million of consumers to obtain access of suppliers.
The petitioner cannot determined how ChatGPT should rovide its service to OAI’s users.
The emergence of generative artificial intelligence now plays a central role in reshaping how information enters the public sphere. They are software tools which permit the “synthetic creation” of information. Unlike traditional intermediaries such as Google which merely hosts speech, Gen AI platforms produce expression probabilistically by curating a response.
In attempting to remedy the situation, the petitioner is seeking to dictate the manner in which the respondents should be operating ChatGPT. “No third party can compel a service provider to use its service in a manner to reflect its link or for its benefit.
The question of whether ChatGPT falls within the definition of an ‘intermediary’ under section 2(1)(w) or an ‘originator’ under section 2(za) of the IT Act is a complicated and vexed question of both law and fact.
The results generated on ChatGPT are independently generated whereby new output whether by way of text, code, images writings or pictures are made available. In many ways, the responses on ChatGPT are uncertain and therein also lies the originality. It does not simply reproduce materials but acts as a generator of electronic records. In that sense, it is not a passive conduit. In such circumstances, ChatGPT has an element of newness, uniqueness and originality in its results which ought to bring it within the definition of an “originator” rather than an ‘intermediary’.
