The Delhi High Court has ordered three authors of books on artificial intelligence, who have been accused of copyright infringement by a teacher, to remain present in the Court on October 18. [Kartik Sharma v. Sultan Chand And Sons Pvt Ltd & Ors]

Justice Pratibha M Singh also ordered e-commerce platforms to take down the infringing copies of the book by educationist Kartik Sharma titled ‘Essentials of Artificial Intelligence’ within 72 hours, in compliance with the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.

In the case at hand, the Court found that a chapter called ‘Communication Skills’ has been reproduced “almost word-to-word” in one of the books of the defendant-authors.

“The books have been produced and it is seen that in two books i.e. “Essentials of Information Technology” by Defendant No. 7-Preeti Arora, and “Essential of Artificial Intelligence” by Plaintiff-Kartik Sharma, the Chapter called ‘Communication Skills’ is almost word-to-word reproduced,” the order stated.

Sharma, meanwhile, claimed that 77 pages of his books have been reproduced verbatim.

He moved the High Court to permanently restrain any infringement of his copyright in a book on artificial intelligence, designed for students of Classes VIII to XII.

The Court was told that Sharma had conducted thorough research and created a framework aligned with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) curriculum to teach the subject to school students.

The author said that in February this year, he came across a book titled ‘Essentials of Information Technology’ for Classes IX and X published by Sultan Chand and Sons. It was alleged that the book in question reproduced certain portions from Sharma’s books verbatim.