"Strong case": Calcutta High Court in IndiaMART suit against OpenAI for exclusion in ChatGPT search results

IndiaMART has moved the Calcutta High Court alleging that OpenAI has unlawfully excluded the company’s website and listings from search results generated by ChatGPT, causing reputational and commercial damage [IndiaMART InterMESH Limited v. OpenAI Inc and Ors]..The business-to-business (B2B) online marketplace company has alleged that OpenAI selectively discriminated against it by preventing it from being shown or surfaced in AI-generated responses, while competing e-commerce and B2B platforms continue to appear.The case was heard by Justice Ravi Krishan Kapur on December 24, who observed that IndiaMART had made out a strong prima facie case and acknowledged that continued exclusion could cause commercial injury. "In view of the above, it prima facie appears that the petitioner is being selectively discriminated and unjustifiably excluded without any logic. Inevitably, there is loss of goodwill, reputation and commercial injury which is being caused to the petitioner," the Court noted. However, Justice Kapur declined to grant any interim relief at this stage, noting that such an order would effectively amount to granting final relief without hearing the respondents, who remained unrepresented despite service. Therefore, he asked IndiaMART's counsel to effect fresh service to OpenAI and listed the matter for hearing on January 13. .In its suit, IndiaMART stated that it has a significant international presence - operating in over 40 countries with thousands of employees - and that its trademark “IndiaMART” is recognised as a well-known mark under the Trade Marks Act, 1999.According to the petition, the exclusion amounts to trade libel through implied disparagement, dilution of its trademark, injurious falsehood and unfair competition. IndiaMART argued that OpenAI’s conduct has resulted in loss of goodwill, reputation and business.The company further alleged that OpenAI relied on reports prepared by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), in which IndiaMART has been named, to justify the exclusion. IndiaMART claimed that it was never given prior notice or an opportunity to respond to the allegations in the USTR report and described OpenAI’s reliance on it as arbitrary and without legal basis.It also pointed out that several other entities named in the same USTR reports for counterfeiting and piracy such as DHgate, Pinduoduo, Shopee and Taobao, continue to appear in ChatGPT responses, raising concerns of selective treatment. .Senior Advocates SN Mookherjee and Rudraman Bhattacharyya with Advocates Sourojit Dasgupta, SK Bajoria, Dhruv Chaddha, Gargi Vashistha, Siddhartha Banerjee and Akash Munshi represented IndiaMART. .[Read Order].Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.