Hollywood & Bollywood Unite: Push for AI-Copyright Reform in India
As artificial intelligence (AI) tools become increasingly capable of creating, transforming, and distributing media content, a major cross-industry coalition is urging India's government to tighten copyright protections to prevent misuse of creative works. In what could become a landmark moment for creators’ rights, Hollywood studios and Bollywood producers are aligning to request legal reform that better regulates how AI firms use copyrighted material.
What’s Happening
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The Motion Picture Association (MPA) — representing major Hollywood studios like Warner Bros, Paramount, and Netflix — together with the Producers Guild of India, have formally lobbied a government panel to prevent AI companies from freely using copyrighted content (trailers, promos, clips, etc.) to train their models.
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They argue that current Indian copyright law, which was last broadly updated in 2012, does not explicitly address the use of copyrighted works in AI training.
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Rather than allowing an all-encompassing exemption for training AI with copyrighted content, the industry is pressing for a licensing framework. Under this, creators could negotiate compensation and control for uses of their work.
Why the Fear? What’s At Stake
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Creators’ revenue and incentives: If AI firms can use copyrighted content without licensing or permission, studios and creators fear they will lose out financially, and that the incentive to produce high-quality new content may decrease.
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Pirated content & unregulated scraping: The concern is not just formal promotional materials, but also that pirated versions of content (already available online) could be caught up in the training data of AI models. This amplifies infringement risks.
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Personality rights & misuse of likeness: On top of copyright, Bollywood celebrities have raised alarms about AI-generated deepfakes, voice-cloning, and other manipulations of their image or identity. Some major names are already in court asking for stronger protections.
What the Government is Doing
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The Indian government, through its commerce ministry, has formed a panel comprising lawyers, industry representatives, and government officials. This panel is reviewing whether existing laws are adequate for the AI era, and will recommend changes soon.
The panel is weighing two sides: the film studios’ proposal for licensing and stricter controls vs. tech/AI industry voices that favour more permissive rules (exceptions) to encourage innovation.
Conflicting Interests
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Film & content creators want licensing, opt-outs, or at least mechanisms to control how their content is used by AI. They see blanket exemptions as dangerous.
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Tech / AI firms & software industry groups argue that overly strict restrictions or licensing burdens could stifle innovation, slow AI development, or make it hard for startups and research groups to compete.
Examples & Recent Cases
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Abhishek Bachchan & Aishwarya Rai Bachchan have approached courts seeking protection over AI-generated videos on YouTube using their likeness without consent. They want control over both the content itself and whether it can be used in training other AI platforms.
Earlier rulings, like in the Arijit Singh case, have helped establish precedent that misuse of name, image, voice, etc., can violate personality rights. But these are mostly reactive and case-by-case.
Challenges in Reforming Copyright for the AI Age
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Defining boundary between “fair use / exceptions” vs. licensing: Where does the line go? How much use is too much? What counts as transformative use?
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Implementation & enforcement: Even with new laws, detecting misuse (deepfakes, voice clones, unlicensed use in large datasets) and enforcing takedowns is hard.
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Balancing innovation vs protection: Over-regulation could suppress AI research and startups. Under-regulation could harm artists. Finding the middle path is tricky.
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Global implications: Content is inherently cross-border. What India does will also affect content owners globally, and AI models trained abroad may still use Indian content. Harmonization with international rules (EU, U.S., etc.) matters.
Why It Matters
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India’s entertainment sector is huge. As of 2024–2025, film, TV, and video streaming revenues are in the tens of billions of dollars.
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Content creators (filmmakers, actors, music labels) depend on copyrights and licenses for their livelihood. If those are undermined, the artistic ecosystem suffers.
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For AI to grow responsibly in India, there needs to be trust: creators must feel their rights are respected; consumers must feel that AI content is authentic (e.g. not misleading or defamatory).
Possible Outcomes
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New legislation or amendments to the Indian Copyright Act explicitly addressing AI usage for training (defining what’s allowed, what needs license).
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Mandatory licensing regime for certain kinds of content: e.g. trailers, promos, full works. Perhaps with predetermined rates or negotiated ones.
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Stronger personality rights laws, possibly as a separate legal doctrine, to protect celebrities' likeness, voices, and identity from unapproved AI use.
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Platform regulation: Requiring platforms like YouTube, etc., to ensure proper takedown processes, monitoring, or safe-harbour adjustments when content is misused for AI training.
Conclusion
The debate over AI, copyright, and personality rights in India is reaching a tipping point. With Hollywood and Bollywood pulling in the same direction, the push for clearer laws is likely to succeed. How India chooses to strike the balance between protection and innovation will not only impact its own creative industries, but may also set precedents globally. For creators, platforms, and consumers alike, the coming months could bring significant change.
Other Resources:
https://www.nocturnealley.org/viewuser.php?uid=20130
https://community.spotify.com/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/26996640
https://forum.unified-automation.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=8633&p=14801#p14801
https://www.cloudmicrophones.com/members-area/yingashley1390865/profile
https://www.cvhaction.org/profile/yingashley1362976/profile
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