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.
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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’.
