Is AI-Generated Manga Copyrighted in India? Copyright Act 1957, Authorship & Legal Realities in 2026

In brief:

• Purely AI-generated visual panels created without demonstrable human creative intervention cannot claim copyright protection under Indian copyright jurisprudence.
• Human-authored components of a manga—including the original screenplay, character lore, dialogue, layout structure, and curated sequential order—remain fully protectable under Indian statutory law.
• Creators combining assistive artificial intelligence with human craft must maintain a detailed audit trail of drafts, sketches, and editorial decisions to establish legal ownership.

Direct answer: Under India's Copyright Act, 1957, copyright protects original works originating from human skill and judgment. Purely automated AI outputs lack human authorship and cannot claim direct copyright. However, hybrid manga combining human scripts, storyboards, character bibles, and editorial curation can secure copyright protection for those human-authored elements. Creators must document their creative workflows diligently.

The rapid democratization of generative technology has fundamentally transformed how visual stories are conceived, drafted, and produced across the Indian subcontinent. From indie mangaka in Bengaluru and Pune experimenting with digital screen tones to webcomic studios in New Delhi and Mumbai building serialized graphic narratives, emerging digital tools have drastically compressed the turnaround time required to produce sequential art. Creators who once spent weeks hand-inking background architecture and cross-hatching character shading can now generate complex visual panels in minutes. Yet this technological acceleration has brought artists, indie publishers, and digital creators face-to-face with a profound legal ambiguity: is AI-generated manga copyrighted in India?

For Indian creators building intellectual property with an eye toward commercial publishing, merchandise licensing, print tankobon distribution, or international translation, the answer carries immense commercial weight. If your completed graphic novel cannot be protected by law, competitor studios or online scrapers could replicate your pages, print identical volumes, and sell them across domestic marketplaces without paying royalties or seeking authorization. Conversely, if legal protection is possible through diligent human authorship, understanding the exact statutory boundaries allows you to design your production pipeline safely.

This guide provides an exhaustive, legally grounded analysis of how Indian intellectual property law evaluates synthetic and assisted visual storytelling. We examine the core provisions of the statutory framework governed by the Copyright Act, 1957 , unpack landmark judicial precedents from the Supreme Court of India, evaluate administrative registration practices at the Indian Copyright Office , and outline practical, actionable strategies for securing your original creative rights.

Disclaimer: This analysis is provided for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute formal legal advice. Intellectual property disputes and statutory interpretations depend heavily on specific factual circumstances. Indian creators seeking definitive legal counsel regarding contracts, registration filings, or infringement litigation should consult an advocate or qualified intellectual property attorney.

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Understanding Copyright in India: Statutory Framework and the Human Authorship Rule

To determine whether an AI-generated manga can secure legal protection in India, one must first deconstruct the underlying statutory architecture that governs intellectual property across the country. Indian copyright jurisprudence is not based on unwritten common law assumptions of fairness; it is strictly codified under statute. Under Section 16 of the Copyright Act, 1957, no person is entitled to copyright or any similar right in any work otherwise than under and in accordance with the provisions of the Act or any other law for the time being in force. Therefore, if a synthetic visual work cannot fit cleanly into the statutory definitions established by Parliament, it cannot enjoy copyright protection within the territory of India.

Administered under the regulatory oversight of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) within the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the Indian copyright regime serves a dual purpose: incentivizing creative genius by granting creators exclusive economic monopolies over their expressions, while ensuring that the public domain remains enriched with knowledge and ideas.

The Copyright Act, 1957 and Section 13 Requirements

The gateway to statutory protection is found in Section 13 of the Act. Section 13(1)(a) explicitly mandates that copyright subsists throughout India in original literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works. When evaluating a manga or comic book, the work does not exist as a single monolithic legal category. Instead, Indian copyright law views a manga as a composite creative entity comprising several distinct classes of protected works:

• Literary Works: Defined under Section 2(o), literary works include written scripts, character bibles, narrative outlines, world-building lore, panel descriptions, and dialogue balloons.
• Artistic Works: Defined under Section 2(c), artistic works encompass paintings, sculptures, drawings (which explicitly include diagrams, maps, charts, or plans), engravings, and photographs, whether or not any such work possesses artistic quality. Manga panels, character lineart, background illustrations, and cover art fall squarely under this artistic classification.
• Compilations and Derivative Arrangements: The selection, arrangement, visual flow, and pagination of individual panels across a multi-page sequential sequence may qualify as a protectable compilation or composite arrangement.

However, Section 13 imposes an indispensable threshold: the work must be original. The statute does not protect ideas, historical events, raw concepts, or artistic styles; it strictly protects the original expression of those ideas. For a manga to enjoy statutory subsistence, there must be an identifiable origin—and under longstanding Anglo-Indian legal doctrine, that origin must be traced back to human intellect and creative agency.

Defining the 'Author' Under Section 2(d)

The requirement for a human originator becomes crystal clear when examining Section 2(d) of the Act, which defines who qualifies as the legal "author" of a work:

• In relation to a literary or dramatic work, the author is the author of the work (Section 2(d)(i)).
• In relation to a musical work, the composer (Section 2(d)(ii)).
• In relation to an artistic work other than a photograph, the artist (Section 2(d)(iii)).
• In relation to a photograph, the person taking the photograph (Section 2(d)(iv)).
• In relation to a cinematograph film or sound recording, the producer (Section 2(d)(v)).

Notice the deliberate statutory syntax: every category presumes a natural person capable of intentional creative deliberation. An algorithm, neural network, or automated software pipeline is not recognized as a legal person under Indian law. A machine cannot hold property, enter into contracts, sue for infringement, or be held liable for defamation. Consequently, an AI engine cannot be registered or recognized as an author in its own right.

Deconstructing Section 2(d)(vi): Computer-Generated Works vs. Autonomous Generative Models

Proponents of copyrighting purely AI-generated art frequently point to Section 2(d)(vi) of the Copyright Act, 1957, arguing that Indian law already anticipated automated creativity. Inserted via legislative amendment in 1994, Section 2(d)(vi) provides:

"in relation to any literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work which is computer-generated, the person who causes the work to be created;"

At first glance, an aspiring creator might interpret "the person who causes the work to be created" as the user who enters a text prompt into an image generator. If you type a 50-word description into a prompt box and press "Generate", did you not cause the resulting manga panel to be created?

Legal scholars, intellectual property attorneys, and international jurisprudence urge extreme caution against this superficial reading. When Parliament enacted the 1994 amendments, generative diffusion models, large multimodal networks, and autonomous synthetic rendering did not exist. Section 2(d)(vi) was drafted primarily to address computer-aided design (CAD), digital audio workstation arrangements, fractal mathematics rendering, and algorithmic software execution where human programmers or designers established rigid rules, geometric logic, and precise computational parameters. In those legacy scenarios, the computer functioned merely as a digital stylus or calculation engine executing human instructions.

In modern generative AI models, the creative relationship is inverted. A user provides a conceptual prompt (such as "shonen hero in battle pose, dynamic angle, high contrast screentone"), but the user does not control the placement of individual pixels, lines, shading values, facial anatomy, or perspective grids. The neural network synthesizes billions of parameters learned from its training corpus to generate an unpredictable, autonomous visual manifestation. The user suggests the idea, but the machine executes the expression.

Because copyright law strictly refuses to protect raw ideas and only protects fixed creative expressions, equating the prompter to the author who "causes the work to be created" stretches Section 2(d)(vi) beyond its statutory intent. If a client hires a freelance illustrator and says "draw me a dynamic ninja fighting on a rooftop in Tokyo", the client is not the author of the drawing—the illustrator is. By analogy, when an AI user prompts a model, the user acts as an commissioning patron rather than the drafting artist.

The Modicum of Creativity: Eastern Book Company and the Indian Originality Standard

To fully appreciate why purely algorithmic manga generation faces immense legal barriers under Indian law, creators must understand how Indian courts evaluate the concept of originality. For over a century, copyright systems across the common law world wrestled with what level of creative effort justifies an exclusive legal monopoly. Does mere industrious labor—spending hours collecting facts or generating countless variations—entitle someone to copyright protection, or must there be genuine creative judgment?

In many jurisdictions, this debate crystallized around the doctrinal threshold of originality . Understanding India's specific judicial evolution from traditional English principles to its modern standard is critical for any visual artist utilizing generative systems.

Sweat of the Brow vs. Modicum of Creativity

Historically, English courts adhered to the classical "sweat of the brow" doctrine, established in seminal cases such as Walter v. Lane (1900) and University of London Press v. University Tutorial Press (1916). Under this standard, any individual who expended substantial time, physical labour, and financial resources to produce a compilation or layout could claim copyright, even if the work lacked novelty or artistic spark. If an Indian creator spent weeks typing thousands of prompt permutations to output hundreds of webcomic panels, the sweat of the brow test might theoretically reward that sheer expenditure of time.

However, the Supreme Court of India decisively rejected this mechanical approach. In the landmark case of Eastern Book Company & Ors. v. D.B. Modak & Anr. (2008) 1 SCC 1, the Supreme Court was tasked with determining whether law publishers could claim copyright over legal case reports that had been edited with headnotes, paragraph numbering, and structural formatting.

Delivering its historic judgment, the Supreme Court conducted an extensive comparative analysis of global copyright standards. The Court examined the United States Supreme Court ruling in Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Co. (1991), which had completely repudiated sweat of the brow in favor of a "creative spark" requirement. The Indian Supreme Court formulated a nuanced middle path between the minimal English sweat-of-the-brow rule and the high American creativity bar:

1. The Requirement of Skill and Judgment: The Court held that for a work to claim copyright in India, it must originate from the author and must not be a mere copy of another work. Crucially, the author must demonstrate the exercise of substantial "skill, judgment, and labour."
2. Beyond Trivial Mechanics: The labour expended cannot be purely mechanical, trivial, or routine. It must involve genuine discernment, intellectual selection, and creative decision-making that imprints the work with the author's personal mental qualities.
3. A Modicum of Creativity: While the work does not need to achieve high literary or artistic genius, it must reflect at least a minimal "modicum of creativity" resulting from human cognitive choices.

This standard forms the bedrock of modern Copyright law of India . In sequential art, the Modak principle means that merely expending computational power, electricity, and time scrolling through randomly generated image outputs does not satisfy the statutory threshold.

How Modak Dictates Original Expression in Sequential Art

When applied to manga and comic creation, the Modak ruling establishes a sharp distinction between mechanical generation and expressive visual storytelling. Sequential art is not simply a collection of attractive standalone illustrations. As demonstrated in our comic creator app guide for Indian storytellers , the essence of comic narrative lies in the deliberate juxtaposition of panels, pacing, emotional staging, and temporal rhythm.

Under the Modak framework, when a creator executes sequential art manually:

• The artist selects specific camera angles (bird's-eye view, Dutch angle, extreme close-up) to evoke psychological tension.
• The artist calibrates panel borders, gutters, and aspect ratios to manipulate how fast the reader's eye moves across the printed page.
• The artist hand-draws character anatomy, deliberate facial micro-expressions, hair movement, and dynamic speed lines to communicate motion and emotional resonance.
• The artist determines dialogue bubble positioning to guide narrative reading flow from right-to-left (traditional manga format) or left-to-right (webtoon vertical scroll).

Each of these choices represents an undeniable exercise of human skill, judgment, and cognitive deliberation. Even if individual drawings are simple, the cumulative composition easily clears the Modak modicum of creativity threshold.

Conversely, when an automated tool generates an entire sequential sequence from a generic prompt without human structural intervention, those delicate compositional decisions are not made by a human mind. They are calculated by probabilistic weightings in a neural network. Because no human exercised creative judgment over the specific line weights, facial nuances, or lighting contrasts, the resulting visual output fails the core requirement set down in Eastern Book Company v. D.B. Modak.

Why Simple Text Prompts Struggle to Meet the Skill and Judgment Test

Many digital hobbyists argue that crafting elaborate text prompts—often termed "prompt engineering"—constitutes intellectual skill and judgment under Modak. An author might write: "A 17-year-old Indian warrior wielding a glowing talwar sword, drenched in monsoon rain, atmospheric backlit rim lighting, black and white manga ink style, detailed screentones, dramatic foreshortening, highly detailed, masterwork." Does this 30-word instruction satisfy the requirement of skill and judgment?

From the perspective of Indian copyright jurisprudence, the answer is almost certainly no. A text prompt operates at the level of unprotectable ideas. As established decades ago by the Supreme Court of India in R.G. Anand v. Delux Films (1978) 4 SCC 118, copyright protects the expression of an idea, not the idea itself.

When you craft a descriptive prompt:

• You have formulated an idea, a conceptual brief, or an artistic commission.
• You have not formulated the expressive lineart, the precise droplet physics of the rain, the exact curvature of the warrior's fingers, or the specific light falloff across the blade.
• The generative algorithm fills the vast chasm between your conceptual prompt and the final two million pixels on screen.

Because the generative model possesses autonomous discretion over the final visual expression, your creative contribution remains confined to the written text of the prompt. While that written prompt might theoretically enjoy literary copyright as a short text snippet (if it meets the threshold of originality), the resulting visual image belongs to the machine's autonomous calculations. For Indian creators exploring assistive technology, reading our can I make manga using artificial intelligence ethical starter guide helps contextualize why relying solely on automated generation leaves your visual assets completely exposed to copycats.

The RAGHAV Painting Precedent and Copyright Office Policy Trends

The theoretical debate surrounding artificial intelligence and Indian copyright law moved from academic lecture halls into administrative reality between 2020 and 2021. The Indian Copyright Office, functioning under the DPIIT, was confronted with an unprecedented registration challenge that directly addressed whether AI software can claim statutory authorship.

The Suryast Co-Authorship Episode and Subsequent Withdrawal Notice

In late 2020, an intellectual property researcher submitted two separate copyright applications to the Indian Copyright Office for an artistic painting titled "Suryast" (meaning "Sunset" in Hindi). The artwork was generated using an artificial intelligence program known as the "RAGHAV Artificial Intelligence Painting App" (developed by Ankit Sahni).

The procedural timeline of this milestone case reveals the evolving administrative posture of Indian authorities:

1. Initial Sole-Author Application Rejected: The applicant first filed an application designating the RAGHAV AI application as the sole author of Suryast. The Indian Copyright Office promptly rejected this initial application, stating unequivocally that an artificial intelligence application cannot be recognized as a legal author under the provisions of the Copyright Act, 1957.
2. The Co-Authorship Application Accepted: The applicant subsequently submitted a revised registration application (Diary No. 13522/2020-CO/A). In this second filing, the applicant listed both a natural human person (Ankit Sahni) and the artificial intelligence software (RAGHAV) as joint co-authors. In November 2020, the Copyright Office issued a formal Registration Certificate (ROC No. A-135903/2020) recognizing Suryast with dual co-authorship.
3. The Subsequent Withdrawal Notice: The issuance of this registration sparked worldwide legal discourse, with observers questioning whether India had become the first nation in the world to officially confer statutory co-authorship upon an artificial intelligence algorithm. However, the administrative victory was fleeting. Upon closer legal review and extensive public scrutiny, the Copyright Office recognized that the registration was inconsistent with the statutory mandates of Section 2(d) and Section 13.
4. Issuance of the Show Cause Notice: In November 2021, the Registrar of Copyrights issued a formal Notice of Withdrawal / Show Cause Notice under Section 50 of the Act. The notice informed the applicant that the registration certificate had been issued through administrative oversight and was liable to be cancelled, reiterating that Indian copyright law strictly contemplates a natural human being or human legal entity as the true author.

The Suryast episode serves as a powerful administrative precedent for Indian manga artists: any attempt to register an AI application or automated engine as an author or co-author on Indian copyright forms will be rejected or revoked by the registry.

Current Stance of the Indian Copyright Office (copyright.gov.in)

Following the Suryast controversy, the Indian Copyright Office has adhered to a rigorous human-centric administrative protocol. When creators submit artistic or literary applications through the official e-filing portal at copyright.gov.in , examiners scrutinize disclosures regarding authorship and tool assistance.

The current administrative practice of the Indian Copyright Office can be summarized in three core principles:

• Strict Human Authorship Requirement: Form XIV (the statutory application for copyright registration) requires the applicant to state the nationality, domicile, and full legal name of the author. An algorithm, software platform, or neural network cannot possess nationality, address, or legal standing, and cannot be listed in Column 7 of the Statement of Particulars.
• Scrutiny of Automated Outputs: When examiners suspect that an artistic work consists entirely of computer-generated synthetic graphics devoid of human handiwork, they routinely issue scrutiny letters requesting proof of human origin, such as source drawings, rough pencil layouts, or layered digital working files.
• Protection for Human-Assisted Works: If an applicant demonstrates that digital software was employed purely as an assistive tool—comparable to digital tablet hardware, vectors, 3D modeling mannequins, or photo reference filters—while human skill and creative direction guided the final expression, the application is eligible for registration under the human creator's name.

Artists learning how to maintain visual consistency while utilizing digital aids can reference our deep-dive tutorial on manga drawing AI in India: directing consistent art , which emphasizes keeping human aesthetic judgment at the core of character continuity.

The 161st Parliamentary Standing Committee Report on IPR

The legal landscape surrounding synthetic creativity in India is not static. Recognizing the rapid evolution of deep tech and machine learning, the Indian Parliament's Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce conducted an exhaustive review of the nation's intellectual property infrastructure.

In July 2021, the Committee presented its landmark 161st Report, titled "Review of the Intellectual Property Rights Regime in India." Several key observations within the report directly addressed the AI dilemma:

• Recognizing the Economic Value of AI Innovations: The Committee highlighted that artificial intelligence and machine learning are revolutionizing commercial content production, graphic design, and software engineering. It acknowledged that failing to protect commercial investments in AI-driven creativity could disincentivize tech innovation across India.
• Recommending Statutory Modernization: The Parliamentary Committee recommended that the Central Government consider reviewing and amending both the Copyright Act, 1957 and the Patents Act, 1970 to establish clear legal frameworks for protecting works generated by artificial intelligence and automated systems.
• Proposing Sui Generis or Specialized Protection: Rather than diluting the traditional human authorship standard of copyright, the Committee suggested exploring specialized, sui generis intellectual property frameworks that could grant limited economic rights or investment protection to AI creators without equating algorithmic calculations to human genius.

To date, Parliament has not enacted legislative amendments altering Section 2(d) or Section 13. Furthermore, multilateral policy forums organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)—specifically the WIPO Conversation on Intellectual Property and Frontier Technologies—continue to highlight that the vast majority of international jurisdictions maintain a strict human authorship requirement under the global WIPO copyright framework .

Therefore, as of 2026, the statutory rule in India remains unambiguous: purely AI-generated artwork cannot claim copyright. Protection exists only where human authorship is undeniably established.

Purely AI-Generated vs. AI-Assisted Manga: Dissecting the Creative Spectrum

To understand where legal ownership resides in modern comic production, creators and publishers must move beyond binary labels. The legal status of a manga does not depend on whether artificial intelligence was opened during the project, but on how it was utilized. Indian copyright jurisprudence evaluates creative works along an operational spectrum: on one extreme lies fully automated machine output; on the other lies deep, iterative human creative direction.

Understanding where your creative workflow sits along this spectrum determines whether your graphic novel is an unprotectable public-domain curiosity or a legally fortified intellectual property asset.

One-Click Autonomous Generation vs. Deep Iterative Direction

In practical digital comic production, workflows vary dramatically in their degree of human creative control:

• Level 0 (One-Click Autonomous Generation): A user types a single prompt into an online service, requests a full comic page, and downloads the raw output without modifying a single pixel or adjusting layout borders. Here, human creative contribution is practically zero. The prompt merely expresses an unprotectable concept, while the machine executes the composition, color grading, anatomy, and paneling. Under the principles of Eastern Book Company v. D.B. Modak, this output lacks human skill, judgment, and original expression. It enters the public domain immediately upon generation; anyone can copy, crop, or republish it without infringing statutory rights.
• Level 1 (Prompt-Chained Composite Generation): A creator generates multiple individual character poses and background settings via prompts, drops them into an online template, and adds generic dialogue bubbles. While the creator expended time searching and assembling, the underlying artwork remains purely machine-rendered. If the arrangement is basic or automated, Indian courts are unlikely to recognize copyright over the individual panel illustrations, though the specific dialogue text retains literary protection.
• Level 2 (Iterative Human Direction and Guided Storyboarding): The creator begins with an original written screenplay, hand-drafted storyboards, and strict panel compositions. As outlined in our guide on AI storyboard generator scene planning in India , the artist uses digital generators as an assistive layout tool, specifying camera focal lengths, character eyelines, and emotional blocking. The creator then actively curates, discards dozens of inconsistent renders, and stitches together complex compositions.
• Level 3 (Hybrid Post-Processed Production): The artist uses generative tools merely for baseline concept inspiration or rough textural fills, but manually redraws the lineart, paints custom lighting, corrects anatomical errors, hand-letters sound effects (onomatopoeia), and inks expressive facial features. Here, the final visual expression is overwhelmingly shaped by human handiwork, easily surpassing the Modak modicum of creativity.

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The Deconstruction of Manga: Script, Dialogue, Layout, and Inking

A completed manga volume is never a single, uniform artistic file; it is an intricate composite of layered creative expressions. When evaluating copyright subsistence, Indian courts apply the doctrine of separability. If one component of a composite work fails to qualify for copyright, the remaining components that meet statutory requirements do not lose their legal protection.

Let us deconstruct a standard manga chapter into its core components under the Copyright Act, 1957:

1. The Script and Screenplay (Literary Work): Before a single panel is rendered, the author writes the narrative beats, scene descriptions, pacing notes, and dialogue. This written text is an unequivocal literary work under Section 2(o). Even if every subsequent visual panel is generated by an automated neural network, the author's copyright in the underlying written script remains 100% valid, enforceable, and registrable.
2. Character Lore and Visual Bible (Literary and Concept Work): The unique character backstories, personality quirks, power systems, and world-building mythology authored by the creator constitute protected literary expression. When creators develop an original universe—such as following our tutorial to create an Indian superhero comic with AI free desi visual bible —the comprehensive world bible serves as an anchor of statutory ownership.
3. Panel Layout, Composition, and Gutter Pacing (Artistic Compilation): The deliberate architectural design of a manga page—arranging dynamic diagonal slash panels for a high-speed fight sequence, followed by an expansive horizontal double-page spread for an emotional climax—represents profound visual direction. Where this sequential layout is architected by a human artist, the structural compilation can claim copyright as an original artistic arrangement.
4. Dialogue Lettering and Sound Effects (Typographic / Graphic Work): Selecting dynamic font typography, scaling font weights to reflect screaming or whispering, placing speech balloons to direct reader eye movement, and illustrating bespoke Indian or Japanese onomatopoeia (dham, dishoom, doki doki) represents manual graphic craftsmanship.
5. Raw Visual Panel Art (Synthetic vs. Human Artistic Work): This is the precise battleground where legal vulnerability exists. If an illustration within a panel is untouched AI output, that specific illustration cannot claim independent artistic copyright under Section 13(1)(a). But if the panel is manually overpainted, retouched, or composited with hand-drawn elements, the human additions are protected.

Separability of Copyright: What Is Protected and What Enters Public Domain

The legal reality for Indian mangaka in 2026 is that hybrid works exist in a state of dual legal status. You may hold rock-solid statutory copyright over your characters' names, dialogue, narrative storyline, and page layouts, while holding no copyright over the raw, unedited character artwork inside panel three on page twelve.

What does this mean if a competitor copies your manga?

• If a pirate copies your entire manga volume word-for-word, including your dialogue, character names, and story sequence, they have committed blatant copyright infringement of your literary work and compilation, even if the visual panels were AI-assisted. You can issue a cease-and-desist letter, file for an interim injunction in an Indian commercial court, and claim statutory damages under Section 55 of the Act.
• If a competitor extracts a single unedited, prompt-generated background illustration from your manga and uses it as an album cover or phone wallpaper, you will struggle to enforce copyright infringement against them under Section 51, because that isolated synthetic illustration was never imbued with human skill and judgment under Modak.

Infringement Risks, Training Data Liabilities, and Personality Rights in India

When creators utilize generative software to produce manga, the question of whether they can claim copyright is only half the legal equation. The equally urgent question is whether using these tools exposes the creator to copyright infringement liability under Indian law.

Generative diffusion models do not conjure illustrations out of thin air. They are trained on billions of scraped web images, including copyrighted artworks by famous Japanese mangaka, contemporary Western comic illustrators, and domestic Indian artists. This reality introduces complex legal risks that every creator must navigate proactively.

Section 51 Infringement: Substantial Similarity in Character Art and The R.G. Anand Test

Under Section 51 of the Copyright Act, 1957, copyright in a work is infringed when any person, without a license granted by the owner, does anything the exclusive right to do which is conferred upon the owner by the Act. If a generative tool outputs a character design that closely mirrors an existing copyrighted manga character, publishing that panel exposes you to direct infringement claims.

Indian courts evaluate visual and literary infringement using the famous qualitative test established by the Supreme Court of India in R.G. Anand v. Delux Films (1978) 4 SCC 118:

1. The Ordinary Observer Test: The Court held that the fundamental test of infringement is whether a viewer, after seeing both works, gets the unmistakable impression that the subsequent work is a copy of the original. Infringement does not depend on minor variations or hyper-technical differences; it depends on whether the core expressive identity has been pirated.
2. Substantial and Material Taking: Infringement occurs when there is substantial taking of protected expression. While ideas, themes, and general artistic tropes (such as a spiky-haired teenage ninja or a magical schoolgirl) are free for anyone to use under the idea-expression dichotomy, specific costume designs, distinctive scars, trademarked emblems, and unique silhouettes are legally protected.
3. Strict Liability for Distribution: Under Indian civil law, innocence or ignorance of infringement is rarely a complete defense against an injunction. If your generative tool accidentally hallucinates a character that bears substantial similarity to a copyrighted figure from Demon Slayer, Naruto, or Raj Comics, claiming "the AI generated it automatically" does not shield you from liability under Section 51.

To mitigate this risk, creators should never use artist-specific name tags (such as "in the style of Eiichiro Oda" or "drawn by Kentaro Miura") in their prompts. As emphasized in our free AI tool to turn a script into comic panels methodology, prompts should focus strictly on neutral physical anatomy, lighting angles, and environmental staging.

Section 52 Fair Dealing: Why India Lacks an Explicit Text and Data Mining (TDM) Exception

In discussions regarding artificial intelligence and copyright , technology firms frequently claim that training generative models on scraped online images is protected under the doctrine of fair use. However, creators must understand that the American concept of open-ended "fair use" does not exist under Indian law.

India adheres strictly to the statutory doctrine of Fair Dealing, codified exhaustively under Section 52 of the Copyright Act, 1957:

• Section 52(1)(a) provides that fair dealing is permissible strictly for private or personal use (including research), criticism or review of a work, or the reporting of current events.
• Unlike jurisdictions such as Japan (Article 30-4 of the Japanese Copyright Act) or the European Union (Articles 3 and 4 of the Digital Single Market Directive), India does not have an explicit statutory Text and Data Mining (TDM) exception for commercial software training.
• Because commercial generative AI firms ingest millions of copyrighted manga illustrations without artist consent or compensation to build monetized subscription services, Indian legal scholars argue that this massive data scraping falls well outside the narrow boundaries of Section 52 fair dealing.

While individual manga creators using commercial software are generally consumers rather than the entities training foundational foundation models, understanding this distinction is crucial. If an international court rules that a particular commercial model infringed foundational rights, artists relying exclusively on that tool could find their digital assets entangled in secondary licensing disputes.

Personality Rights, Celebrity Likeness, and Delhi High Court Injunctions

In recent years, the High Court of Delhi has emerged as a global pioneer in safeguarding personality rights and rights of publicity against unauthorized artificial intelligence exploitation.

In landmark rulings—including Amitabh Bachchan v. Rajat Nagi & Ors. (2022) and Anil Kapoor v. Simply Life India & Ors. (2023)—the Delhi High Court issued dynamic interim injunctions restraining commercial entities, websites, and digital creators from using celebrity names, voices, likenesses, signatures, or recognizable physical caricatures without explicit authorization. The Court affirmed that an individual's persona, facial features, and visual likeness represent a valuable proprietary right protected under common law and Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

For Indian manga creators, the legal lesson is direct:

• Never prompt generative tools to render real Indian actors, cricket players, public figures, or living personalities as manga characters without their express written consent.
• Avoid using generative face-swaps or recognizable facial features of living celebrities, even in satirical or parody webtoons, unless your usage strictly satisfies the heavy legal burden of fair dealing under Section 52.
• Anchor your character designs around original fictional archetypes, utilizing our framework to build a respectful desi visual bible that draws upon broad cultural themes rather than protected individual likenesses.

Commercial Publishing, Platform Rules, and Contracts for Indian Creators

Publishing a manga in India involves navigating two distinct legal landscapes: statutory copyright law on one side, and private contractual platform policies on the other. Even if your hybrid manga complies with the Copyright Act, 1957, failing to comply with platform terms of service can result in your series being abruptly de-monetized, removed, or banned.

Self-Publishing via Amazon KDP, Notion Press, and Comic Con India

Independent comic publishing in India has experienced exponential growth. Today's creators routinely leverage print-on-demand services like Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) India, Notion Press, and direct distribution at vibrant comic conventions across Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi, and Hyderabad.

When self-publishing through these channels, creators must observe specific operational rules:

1. Amazon KDP Content Guidelines: Amazon requires publishers to disclose whether their digital books or paperback print files contain AI-generated text or images. Amazon distinguishes between "AI-generated" content (where an automated tool created the raw material) and "AI-assisted" content (where a human creator drafted the work and used tools for grammar, refinement, or rough reference). Failing to disclose generative imagery accurately during book upload can lead to account suspension and royalty forfeiture.
2. Notion Press and Domestic Print-on-Demand: Indian self-publishing platforms require creators to sign representations and warranties confirming that the submitted manuscript does not infringe third-party intellectual property and that the author possesses the commercial right to exploit all included imagery. If your commercial subscription for your generative tool restricts commercial distribution, you breach these publishing warranties.
3. Physical Exhibition at Comic Con India: At physical conventions, indie creators sell physical tankobon books, posters, art prints, and bookmarks. Indian convention organizers and artist alley communities have increasingly implemented strict transparent labeling guidelines. Artists who sell purely unedited AI-generated art prints while misrepresenting them as hand-drawn illustrations face community backlash, booth cancellation, and exclusion from future events.

Webtoon and Global Platform Policies on Generative Art

Digital serialization on vertical scrolling platforms—such as WEBTOON Canvas and Tapas—offers Indian storytellers direct access to global audiences. As detailed in our comprehensive webtoon maker online episodic workflow for India , episodic webcomics demand consistent visual execution across dozens of weekly chapters.

However, global platforms have enacted specific moderation standards:

• WEBTOON Guidelines: WEBTOON permits creators to utilize digital assistance, but emphasizes creator originality and transparency. If a series generates community reports alleging that character artwork is scraped or plagiarized from copyrighted Japanese manga, WEBTOON reserves the right to review project files and remove violating episodes.
• Creator Grant Contests: Major webcomic contests—including global webtoon competitions and domestic publishing open calls—explicitly forbid pure, unedited AI-generated entries in their official contest terms. Contest juries demand proof of authentic drawing capability, including rough storyboard thumbnails, time-lapse screen recordings, and layered project files.

Traditional Indian Publishers vs. Indie Digital Distribution

For creators aspiring to sign formal publishing contracts with established comic publishing houses—such as Raj Comics, Graphic India, or emerging manga publishers—the legal requirements become even more rigorous. Traditional publishers invest significant capital into printing, marketing, and bookstore distribution. Consequently, publishing contracts contain ironclad legal clauses:

• Indemnity Clauses: If a third party sues the publisher claiming your manga infringed their copyrighted character or artwork, an indemnity clause forces you (the creator) to pay all legal fees, court penalties, and publisher damages out of your own pocket.
• Warranties of Sole Authorship: Standard publishing agreements require you to warrant that you are the "sole author and exclusive copyright owner" of the entire work. If 60% of your visual pages are raw AI outputs that lack copyright under Section 13, signing a warranty claiming exclusive copyright ownership constitutes a material legal misrepresentation.

Indian creators who want to use assistive tools responsibly can explore modern creation environments like Mangaka , an AI-assisted tool designed to help storytellers create manga and comic pages from an original story while retaining creative direction over characters, dialogue, and narrative flow.

Pre-Submission Due Diligence Checklist for Indian Manga Creators

Before you upload your completed manga to a digital platform or submit physical manuscripts to a publishing house, complete this strict five-step due diligence review:

1. Verify Software Commercial Licensing: Review the end-user license agreement (EULA) and commercial terms of every generative tool utilized. Confirm that your active subscription tier grants full commercial exploitation rights, including print publishing, digital serialization, and merchandising.
2. Audit Character Art for Substantial Similarity: Visually inspect all character designs against existing popular manga franchises. Ensure that hair geometry, signature outfits, magical emblems, and silhouettes do not trigger the R.G. Anand ordinary observer infringement test.
3. Purge Artist Name Prompts from Production Logs: Confirm that your prompt logs contain no direct references to living artists, protected franchise titles, or trademarked visual styles. Replace all stylistic tags with descriptive anatomical, atmospheric, and lighting adjectives.
4. Isolate and Protect the Original Script: Save your complete written screenplay, character dialogue, and world-building notes as a separate, timestamped literary manuscript before launching visual serialization.
5. Establish Platform Transparency: Ensure that your publication metadata, book preface, or platform description honestly discloses the assistive nature of the production pipeline, satisfying both platform policies and reader trust.

Step-by-Step Creator Playbook: Building a Legally Resilient Hybrid Manga

For Indian manga creators, the central takeaway from Indian copyright jurisprudence is clear: you do not need to abandon modern digital tools, but you must architect your creative pipeline so that human skill, judgment, and labor form the undeniable foundation of your graphic novel.

By deliberately structuring your production into distinct, verifiable phases, you maximize legal defensibility under the Modak standard while taking advantage of digital acceleration.

Establishing the Human Core: Literary Copyright for Script and Character Bible

Every legally durable comic property begins with the written word. Long before opening any digital canvas or assistive layout tool, author your complete story in text format:

• Draft a comprehensive character bible documenting character names, ages, emotional flaws, backstories, moral dilemmas, and distinctive psychological relationships.
• Write full episodic screenplays with complete dialogue, internal monologues, and explicit panel descriptions outlining camera distance, character expressions, and narrative action beats.
• Maintain version-controlled text files (using dated document backups or cloud revision histories) to establish an indisputable chronological timestamp of creation.

By cementing your narrative script as a standalone literary work, you establish a primary layer of statutory copyright under Section 13(1)(a). Even if a rogue scraper duplicates every visual panel of your comic, they cannot lawfully adapt your written storyline or character interactions without infringing your underlying literary copyright.

Directing the Visuals: Storyboarding, Rough Thumbnails, and Compositional Intent

The transition from text script to visual paneling is where artistic direction takes physical form. Rather than entering broad prompts into an autonomous generator, creators should execute initial structural layouts manually:

1. Rough Thumbnailing: Sketch basic pencil thumbnails or digital stick-figure layouts defining page architecture, reading flow, and dynamic gutter cuts. Following our step-by-step manga creation guide for beginners , establishing rough thumbnails takes minimal time but provides definitive proof of human compositional intent.
2. Establishing Mobile Rhythm: For vertical webcomics, design panel spacing according to mobile reading ergonomics, as detailed in our guide on best comic panel layout generator for beginners . This deliberate spatial arrangement demonstrates the exercise of human judgment.
3. Targeted Asset Generation: Use generative assistance strictly to visualize specific sub-elements—such as rendering complex isometric background architecture, mechanical props, or crowd silhouettes—rather than delegating complete panel compositions to autonomous software.

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The Post-Processing Pipeline: Manual Lineart, Screentones, and Custom Lettering

To elevate synthetic visual drafts into legally protectable artistic works, creators must inject substantial human craft during post-processing:

• Lineart Refinement and Inking: Bring AI-assisted concept drafts into drawing software (such as Clip Studio Paint, Photoshop, or Krita). Manually ink primary character silhouettes, adjust lineweights to emphasize depth, redraw awkward hands or facial anatomy, and add custom screentone hatching.
• Color Grading and Atmospheric Lighting: Paint manual rim lighting, atmospheric fog, monsoon rain streaks, and color palettes that reflect the cultural atmosphere of your Indian narrative setting.
• Handcrafted Lettering and SFX: Design custom sound-effect graphics and position dialogue balloons manually. The placement of speech balloons directly dictates reading speed and dramatic pauses—a core creative choice that software cannot calculate contextually.

When an artist invests hours executing manual linework, selective filtering, and typographic lettering, the final panel transforms from an unprotectable machine artifact into a composite derivative work where the human additions are fully protected under Section 14.

Archiving the Creation Audit Trail: Protecting Your Rights with Immutable Records

If a copyright dispute arises—or if the Copyright Office issues a scrutiny letter challenging your registration—the burden of proving original human authorship falls entirely on you. You cannot rely on verbal assertions; you must provide documentary evidence.

Implement this strict digital archiving protocol for every manga chapter:

1. Retain Layered Project Files: Always preserve non-flattened working files (.PSD, .CLIP, or equivalent) containing separate layers for rough pencils, base synthetic assets, manual inking lines, dialogue balloons, and background textures. Layered files demonstrate the procedural evolution of human craftsmanship.
2. Maintain Prompt and Parameter Logs: Keep an exported spreadsheet logging the exact text prompts, model checkpoints, seed numbers, and generation dates used for any assistive visual assets.
3. Save Video Time-Lapses: Modern digital art software allows background time-lapse recording. Saving time-lapse screen recordings of your manual inking, lettering, and editing sessions provides incontrovertible visual proof of human labor.
4. Export Timestamped Checkpoints: At the end of each production week, export dated PDF or ZIP archives of your progress and store them in secure, timestamped cloud storage or third-party repositories.

When collaborating across distributed indie teams, following structured review protocols like those in our guide on comic maker online for Indian creator teams ensures that every contributor's intellectual property assignment and file history remain transparent.

How to Register Your Manga with the Indian Copyright Office (copyright.gov.in)

While copyright protection subsists automatically upon the creation and fixation of an original work in India, obtaining an official Certificate of Registration from the Indian Copyright Office provides decisive evidentiary advantages. Under Section 48 of the Copyright Act, 1957, the Register of Copyrights serves as prima facie evidence of the particulars entered therein. In an Indian commercial court, a registration certificate shifts the initial burden of proof to the alleged infringer.

Navigating Form XIV and e-Filing Procedures

Copyright registration in India is executed online via the e-filing portal at copyright.gov.in:

• Step 1 (User Registration and Form XIV): The creator logs into the portal and completes Form XIV (Application for Registration of Copyright), providing full legal identification, postal address, and contact details.
• Step 2 (Statement of Particulars): In the Statement of Particulars (SoP), the applicant details the title of the work, whether it is published or unpublished, and the author's nationality. Crucially, Column 7 requires the full legal name and address of the author. You must list yourself (or your human co-creators) as the sole human author. Do not list software names or generative tools in Column 7.
• Step 3 (Fee Payment): The statutory registration fee is nominal under Schedule II of the Copyright Rules, 2013 (typically ₹500 for an unpublished literary or artistic work, and ₹2,000 for a commercial work).
• Step 4 (Mandatory 30-Day Waiting Period): Upon filing, a unique Diary Number is generated. The application enters a mandatory 30-day statutory waiting period, during which third parties may file formal objections if they believe the work infringes their rights.
• Step 5 (Scrutiny and Certificate Issuance): If no objections are received, the application is assigned to a copyright examiner for technical scrutiny. If compliant, the Registrar issues an official Certificate of Registration (ROC).

Classifying Literary Work vs. Artistic Work vs. Composite Book

Choosing the correct statutory class on Form XIV is vital when registering a hybrid manga:

• Option A (Registering as a Literary Work): You can register your complete manga script, dialogue, and character bible independently under the "Literary" category. Literary registrations face minimal scrutiny regarding digital tools, as the submitted deposit is pure written text. This secures rock-solid statutory ownership over the entire story foundation.
• Option B (Registering as an Artistic Work): If you register individual character model sheets, cover art, or splash pages under the "Artistic" category, examiners will evaluate the visual artwork directly. You should only file under Artistic Works for pages that feature substantial manual drawing, inking, and original visual design.
• Option C (Registering the Published Manga as a Book): For completed manga volumes published with an ISBN, creators frequently register the entire volume as a published literary and artistic book compilation. In your statement of particulars, describe the work as an original illustrated graphic novel containing text, sequential layout, and curated artwork authored by the applicant.

Handling Disclosures Regarding Generative Software Tools

Honesty and precise legal terminology are paramount during the registration process. Never attempt to conceal your production pipeline or make false statutory declarations. Section 50 of the Act empowers the Registrar to rectify or cancel registrations obtained through fraudulent misrepresentation or material non-disclosure.

If prompted on application questionnaires or in formal cover letters regarding software assistance:

• Disclose digital software accurately as assistive production tools, listing them alongside vector drawing programs, tablet drivers, and desktop publishing suites.
• Emphasize that all narrative characters, dialogue, story sequences, and final panel compositions were conceived, directed, edited, and assembled by the human applicant.
• Explicitly disclaim exclusive copyright over raw, unedited background textures or generic stock prompts, focusing your ownership claim on the original script, compilation, and handcrafted expressive artwork.

Responding to Scrutiny Letters and Objections

If a copyright examiner issues a scrutiny letter (Discrepancy Letter) questioning the origin or authorship of your visual panels:

• Do Not Panic: A discrepancy letter is a routine administrative inquiry, not a final rejection. The registry grants applicants 30 days to file a formal written response.
• Submit Your Production Trail: Prepare an affidavit supported by annexures showing your initial written script, thumbnail storyboards, layered working files, and manual inking drafts.
• Cite Binding Precedent: Reference Eastern Book Company v. D.B. Modak, demonstrating that your selection, arrangement, dialogue writing, and manual post-processing satisfy the requisite modicum of creativity and skill.
• Seek Professional Guidance: If the objection involves complex jurisdictional questions or contested third-party claims, engage an IP advocate to draft and submit the rejoinder.

International Comparisons and Cross-Border Protection for Indian Mangaka

Indian manga authors do not create in a geographical vacuum. In the digital era, serialized webcomics and manga published online instantly reach readers across North America, Japan, Europe, and Southeast Asia. Understanding how foreign legal systems treat AI-assisted artwork ensures that your intellectual property remains secure when expanding into global markets.

The Berne Convention and Territorial Nature of Copyright

The bedrock of international copyright protection is the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Both India and over 180 other sovereign states are signatories to the Berne Convention.

Under the Berne Convention's core principles:

• National Treatment: A work originating in India is entitled to the same copyright protections in Japan, the United States, or France as those nations grant to works created by their own citizens.
• No Mandatory Formalities: Copyright protection in foreign member states does not require domestic registration in those specific countries; it subsists automatically upon creation, provided the work meets the foreign nation's statutory criteria.
• Territoriality Rule: Copyright enforcement is strictly territorial. If an American company copies your manga in the United States, American copyright law dictates the dispute. If an entity in Tokyo prints your comic, Japanese copyright law applies.

US Copyright Office Guidance (Zarya of the Dawn) vs. Indian Approach

The most influential international precedent regarding AI-generated graphic novels is the landmark decision by the United States Copyright Office (USCO) in February 2023 regarding the comic book Zarya of the Dawn (created by Kris Kashtanova using Midjourney).

The USCO's formal decision established a clear global benchmark:

• The Script and Layout Were Protected: The US Copyright Office affirmed that the author held valid copyright over the written story text and the selection, coordination, and arrangement of panels on each page.
• The Individual Images Were Cancelled: The USCO revoked copyright registration for the individual visual panel illustrations, ruling that because the images were generated by an AI tool from text prompts, they lacked human authorship under US constitutional and statutory standards.
• Alignment with Indian Law: This USCO decision closely mirrors how the Supreme Court of India's Modak ruling operates: human-authored scripts and structural arrangements receive full legal protection, while unedited synthetic images fall into the public domain.

Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs (Bunkacho) Guidelines on AI and Manga

Japan is the spiritual and commercial heartland of manga publishing. In March 2024, Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs (Bunkacho) published comprehensive official guidelines regarding artificial intelligence and copyright:

• AI-Assisted vs. AI-Generated: The Bunkacho guidelines draw a sharp distinction between "AI-generated works" (produced with minimal human intervention, which cannot receive copyright) and "AI-assisted works" (where a human creator utilizes AI as a tool while expressing their creative thoughts).
• Evaluating Creative Contribution: Japanese copyright authorities evaluate whether the human creator exercised creative intent and creative expression. Factors include the length and specificity of instructions, the number of iterative revisions, the combination of multiple generated components, and significant manual modifications.
• Infringement Risks: The guidelines affirm that if an AI-generated comic page exhibits "similarity" and "reliance" upon an existing copyrighted manga, it constitutes unlawful copyright infringement under Japanese law.

For Indian mangaka aiming to license their work to Japanese publishers or digital platforms, maintaining rigorous manual touch-ups and clean provenance logs is non-negotiable.

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Preparing Indian Manga for Global Licensing and Foreign Translations

If you plan to translate your manga into Japanese, Korean, French, or Spanish—or negotiate adaptation options with streaming studios—foreign entertainment companies will conduct rigorous chain-of-title due diligence:

1. Clear Chain of Title: Ensure that every writer, inker, colorist, and letterer who contributed to your series has signed a written assignment of copyright transferring all rights to your studio or legal entity.
2. Transparent AI Disclosure Schedules: Prepare an official disclosure document outlining exactly which digital tools were utilized, what specific tasks they assisted with, and certifying that all core characters, lore, and screenplays originate from human authors.
3. Isolate Protectable Assets for Foreign Registration: When seeking foreign statutory registrations—such as filing with the US Copyright Office—disclose AI-generated elements transparently in the application's "Limitation of Claim" section, claiming copyright strictly over the original text, compilation, and manual artistic enhancements.

Creators who want to accelerate their drafting pipeline while keeping full control over storytelling can utilize Mangaka , an AI-assisted tool designed to help creators turn their stories into structured manga and comic pages while maintaining full artistic direction.

FAQ

Is an AI-generated manga automatically copyrighted in India?

No, pure AI-generated manga outputs without human creative intervention do not receive automatic copyright protection in India. Indian jurisprudence under the Copyright Act, 1957 and landmark rulings like Eastern Book Company v. D.B. Modak require a minimum modicum of human skill, labour, and judgment. However, human-written scripts, storyboards, and editorial arrangements within the manga remain fully protectable.

Can an artificial intelligence tool be listed as the author or co-author on an Indian copyright application?

No, current Indian copyright administration does not recognize artificial intelligence algorithms as legal authors. While the Indian Copyright Office briefly issued a co-authorship registration for an AI painting application in 2020, it subsequently issued a withdrawal notice affirming that legal authorship requires natural or juristic human personality. Applications listing AI software as an author face rejection or cancellation.

Does Section 2(d)(vi) of the Copyright Act 1957 protect AI-generated artwork?

Section 2(d)(vi) defines the author of a computer-generated work as the person who causes the work to be created. Historically, courts interpreted this provision to cover human programmers and designers using software as assistive tools. Legal consensus among Indian IP practitioners suggests this section does not grant copyright to prompt-generated artwork where the generative model autonomously makes expressive visual choices.

Can I copyright my original manga script and character bible if I use AI for panel art?

Yes, your written script, character backstories, world-building lore, and panel dialogue qualify as original literary works under Section 13 of the Copyright Act. Even if the visual panels are synthesized using generative tools, your underlying textual narrative and character outlines enjoy independent copyright protection. You can register your script directly with the Copyright Office.

What evidence should an Indian creator preserve to prove human authorship in a hybrid manga?

Creators should maintain an immutable audit trail including dated script revisions, thumbnail storyboards, prompt logs, layered drawing project files, and manual inking corrections. Documenting step-by-step visual curation, dialogue placement, and compositional adjustments provides critical evidence of human creative judgment. This paper trail proves substantial human expression if registration or ownership is ever challenged.

Can Indian manga creators sell or commercialize AI-assisted manga legally?

Yes, you can legally sell, print, and distribute AI-assisted manga in India, provided your software tool's commercial terms permit monetization and the artwork does not infringe existing trademarks, personality rights, or proprietary designs. Commercial freedom to sell is separate from copyright protection; while anyone can sell the physical or digital book, defending unedited AI visuals against third-party copycats remains legally difficult.

Does Indian fair dealing law permit generative AI companies to train on copyrighted manga?

Indian copyright law does not provide an express text and data mining exception for commercial generative training. Section 52(1)(a) limits fair dealing strictly to private use, research, criticism, and review. Whether commercial training of generative models constitutes permissible fair dealing or copyright infringement remains an active legal debate awaiting authoritative judicial determination by Indian High Courts.