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ARTICLE · 25 SEPTEMBER 2026

Intellectual Property Rights

King, Stubb & Kasiva
King, Stubb & Kasiva
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The Registrar of Copyrights rejected an application filed by Dr. Stephen L. Thaler for registration of the work titled “A Recent Entrance to Paradise”, in which DABUS (Device for the Autonomous Bootstrapping of Unified Sentience) was identified as the author. While the Registrar accepted that the AI-generated artwork satisfied the limited threshold of originality under Section 13 of the Copyright Act, 1957, it held that DABUS could not be recognised as the statutory author under Section 2(d)(vi).

IndiaIntellectual Property
Jidesh Kumar
Jidesh Kumar
Himanshu Deora
Himanshu Deora
Prithiviraj Senthil Nathan
Prithiviraj Senthil Nathan
Navod Prasannan
Navod Prasannan
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Indian Copyright Office Rejects DABUS Authorship Claim, Holds AI System Cannot Be Recognised as Author

Summary

The Registrar of Copyrights rejected an application filed by Dr. Stephen L. Thaler for registration of the work titled “A Recent Entrance to Paradise”, in which DABUS (Device for the Autonomous Bootstrapping of Unified Sentience) was identified as the author. While the Registrar accepted that the AI-generated artwork satisfied the limited threshold of originality under Section 13 of the Copyright Act, 1957, it held that DABUS could not be recognised as the statutory author under Section 2(d)(vi).

Facts of the Case

Dr. Stephen L. Thaler applied under Section 45 of the Copyright Act for registration of the artistic work “A Recent Entrance to Paradise”, stating that it was first published in the USA in 2016 and identifying DABUS as its author.

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