Category Archives: Arts & Culture

OpenAI Faces New Copyright Case as Indian Publishers Take Legal Action

OpenAI faces a new copyright case filed by Indian publishers in the Delhi High Court. Indian book publishers and their international counterparts have filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against OpenAI in the Delhi High Court. The case, led by the Federation of Indian Publishers (FIP), accuses OpenAI of using proprietary literary works without permission to train its ChatGPT tool. The lawsuit, filed in December, has now been brought to public attention.
The federation represents prominent publishers, including Penguin Random House, Bloomsbury, Cambridge University Press, Pan Macmillan, and Indian publishers like Rupa Publications and S. Chand and Co.
The lawsuit alleges that OpenAI’s AI models, including ChatGPT, generate detailed book summaries using unauthorized datasets derived from copyrighted works. The federation has urged the court to stop OpenAI from accessing these materials. Pranav Gupta, general secretary of the FIP, emphasized that if OpenAI does not enter licensing agreements, it must delete the datasets and outline compensation mechanisms.
Gupta also highlighted the potential harm to the publishing industry. “The availability of free summaries affects book sales and undermines the creative value of these works,” he noted.
Legal Implications and Global Concerns
OpenAI faces a new copyright case as publishers demand the deletion of datasets used without proper authorization. The case is pivotal in shaping India’s legal stance on the intersection of AI and intellectual property rights. Mumbai-based lawyer Siddharth Chandrashekhar stated, “The outcome will influence the balance between safeguarding intellectual property and fostering technological innovation.”
OpenAI, backed by Microsoft, has denied similar allegations globally. The company maintains that its AI systems use publicly available data in compliance with fair use principles. OpenAI recently argued that Indian courts lack jurisdiction over its servers, which are located overseas. However, the federation contends that OpenAI’s services in India are subject to local laws.
The controversy intensified after reports revealed ChatGPT’s ability to produce chapter-by-chapter summaries of copyrighted books, including works like Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling, published by Bloomsbury. Although the tool avoids providing complete text and explicitly states its limitations with copyrighted material, publishers remain concerned about its impact on book sales.
Steps Taken by Publishers
To address these challenges, Penguin Random House launched a global initiative in November to include copyright warnings in its books, specifying that content cannot be used for AI training.
The FIP claims to have credible evidence that OpenAI utilized members’ literary works without authorization. The lawsuit seeks to address financial and creative damages caused by unlicensed use.
The legal battle intensifies as OpenAI faces a new copyright case alongside existing lawsuits from global organizations. On January 10, the Delhi High Court registrar asked OpenAI to respond to the lawsuit. A judge will now hear the case on January 28. The outcome could set a precedent for similar legal disputes worldwide, as courts grapple with the evolving intersection of AI technology and copyright law.
The Threat to Creativity and Revenue
Publishers argue that tools like ChatGPT jeopardize the traditional publishing industry by offering free access to summaries and extracts of copyrighted books. These features diminish the value of purchasing books, directly affecting sales and revenue. For authors and publishers, this creates a disincentive to invest time, effort, and resources into producing new literary works.
Moreover, there is concern about how unregulated AI systems can erode the creative process. Writers and publishers depend on copyright protections to ensure fair compensation and maintain the integrity of their work. Without proper safeguards, this trust in the system weakens, thus discouraging future creative contributions.

Book review: Understanding the road to a ‘Viksit Bharat @ 2047’

At a time when India is at the cusp of occupying its well-deserved place at the high table in the comity of nations, it is pertinent to look into the contemporary policies of the day and also to look into what lies ahead in the years ahead.Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already announced a concrete vision of how he sees India develop in the 25 years—or “amrit kaal”—till 2047 when India truly becomes “Viksit Bharat” (a developed India) on the strength of “atmanirbharta” or self-reliance to become an economy worth USD 40 trillion.

It is no small target. It means “the minimum essential requirement is to attain a per capita GDP of USD 13,205 by 2047”.

In this backdrop, a book that holistically deals with the roadmap is a key to understanding the narrative laid down by the government. Brigadier (Dr) Rajeev Bhutani’s book Aatma Nirbhar & Viksit Bharat @ 2047: Forging ahead in Amrit Kaal does exactly that.

A distinguished military career in the Indian Army with postings in the challenging trouble spots of Northeast India in Jammu and Kashmir and in the inhospitable terrain of the higher Himalayas has accorded him an observation post from where he could ponder over the security and strategic challenges confronting India. This book is an articulation of that narrative.

In Part 1 of the book, he writes about the challenges and opportunities, focusing more on the historical perspective. Part 2 looks at the growing economic and military heft, the much-touted infotech capability that has led to the growth of a very conducive ecosystem, the diplomatic dominance, the niche areas of science and technology that the country is developing, and importantly the concentration of soft power and how all these critical components contribute to the ‘comprehensive national power’.

Bhutani’s painstakingly researched book would be good as a “one-stop” reference for any policymaker to understand the journey India has taken in the past ever since Independence and the one that needs to be undertaken in the coming years. It will also adequately acquaint all those interested in the noble task of nation-building with India’s recent development history, its unique talents and potentials, and the challenges it has to overcome. 

    Aatma Nirbhar & Viksit Bharat @ 2047: Forging ahead in Amrit Kaal

    Author: Brigadier (Dr) Rajeev Bhutani

    Publisher: UPPAL Publishing House

    Pages: 377

    Price: Rs 1499 (Hardcover)

Sportscaster Mike Nabors teaches job ‘pivoting’ in new book

The only thing we have to fear, Franklin D. Roosevelt once famously advised his countrymen, is fear itself.
Author Mike Nabors makes a similar case for overcoming adversity in Don’t Quit, Pivot, his motivational book published this month by St. Petersburg Press.
Nabors, a veteran sportscaster with more than 30 years of before-the-camera experience (18 of those with the NFL and the New Orleans Saints), changed his career trajectory by founding a full-scale video production, digital and multimedia marketing company (Nabors Media) in 2009. The Tampa-based company also works extensively with nonprofits, helping them get their message out through documentary films, PSAs and other means.
There was more for him. “A lightbulb actually did go off over my head when I turned 50,” Nabors explained. “I loved being a sportscaster, but there were a lot of other things I wanted to do. Just to see if I would like it.”
He’d always wanted to teach at college level. So, he thought, how do I make that happen?
“I had to get a Master’s degree, something I didn’t have. So I went back, at the age of 50, got my Master’s degree.”
Florida Southern College hired him in 2021, to teach business classes, first as an adjunct, then full-time. And he has not looked back. “I’ve taught six different classes there – Management, Media, Marketing, all these different subjects,” Nabors said. “And I’ve loved it more than I could have imagined.
“So I pivoted to a different career, and I thought you know what, I can share my experiences with people who are maybe happy in their job and need a new challenge, or people who hate their jobs, or people who just need more passion.”
Nabors’ first book, The Brees Way, chronicled the career of his pal, former Saints quarterback Drew Brees.
When he pivoted away from sports, and television, and all the stuff he knew intimately, he was scared. But he persevered, fought complacency and worry and self-doubt, and made it happen.
“Because I had the confidence to do it, I wanted to give other people the confidence too,” he reflected.
“A big component of the book is, we all have skills. I don’t care if you’re 25, 35, 45, 55, we build up skills in whatever we do. And the majority of us take those skills for granted and think that the only area we can use our skills in is our current vocation. Whatever that is.”
Nabors, who’d been an announcer and pregame host for the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2003, and anchored a Tampa TV sportscast for two years after that, said he’d seen the media business changing over time. “I always thought, in the back of my mind, I don’t want to just do this the rest of my life. I want to do more than this.”
Today, “I love teaching more than I love television. And I love television! But teaching is more fulfilling to me, just because it’s something that I can really have a tangible impact on. TV is somewhat superficial, and the impact is harder to measure than teaching.”
One of the opening pages in Don’t Quit, Pivot says the book is “a road map a more rewarding career!” It’s a series of anecdotes, and advice, and stories of well-known people, including celebrities, who successfully navigated mid-career pivots.
Sportscasting legend Dick Vitale wrote the foreword. “Pivoting,” the basketball analyst wrote, “truly saved my life! Hopefully, this book encourages you to do something I firmly believe in: always follow your passion, but don’t be shy about pivoting to newfound happiness and rewarding challenges in your life. They are there for everyone; you must lean on your inner circle and trust your talents and instincts.”
Whether it’s an entirely new career, or a pivot within an existing one, anybody – introvert, extrovert, gregarious people person or the quiet, shy type – can make a successful change, according to Mike Nabors.
“My career dictates being a people person, in terms of teaching, in terms of developing a business, but everybody has a dream of doing something else. Some people don’t have passion for their jobs – maybe they want to do coding for video games. Or maybe they want to do projects remotely, then make a lot of money. And there’s plenty of those now, with technology.
“You don’t have to be a people person – you just have to be somebody’s who’s not satisfied in their life, who wants more. And there’s all kinds of personalities for that.”
Don’t Quit, Pivot is available from Amazon, Tombolo Books and St. Petersburg Press.

19th Century Books Predicted Trump’s Return And Rise Of His Youngest Son Barron: TikTok Video Peddles Wild Theories

Donald Trump returned to the White House earlier this week. A pair of obscure novels written in the late 19th century had predicted Donald Trump’s return to the White House for his second, non-consecutive term, The Sun reported. These books, written by American author Ingersoll Lockwood, were largely forgotten. However, after Trump’s re-election, stories from…

Egypt launches Kitab app with 2000 books to promote digital culture

Ahmed Fouad Henna, Minister of Culture, and Amr Talaat, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, launched the free Kitab (Book) application as a tool to promote digital culture, under the slogan: ‘Your book, wherever you want, whenever you want’, during the opening of the 56th Cairo International Book Fair at the Egypt International Exhibition Center in New Cairo.During a press conference Friday evening, the Minister of Communications said that the ministry will team up with the Ministry of Culture to provide electronic documentation with electronic applications for visual, audio, and music libraries.He explained that the second phase of the application aims to integrate the culture and knowledge that the Egyptian library is rich in with technology by making this knowledge available for free to various groups and readers through applications.He added that the Kitab application is a digital library available to everyone, containing more than 2000 books provided by the Ministry of Culture. It is a user-friendly application with all the modern features of reading programs.The Minister of Culture explained that this application comes at a crucial time when the world is witnessing rapid digital transformation, noting that the application facilitates access to books and cultural content through the latest technological means, and includes a vast digital library containing a diverse collection of books in various fields of knowledge.

FAITH MATTERS: God uses rejection as a catalyst in this new book

When Robert J. Maxie experienced rejection and hurt from his father at a young age, it caused him to seek a deeper sense of purpose in life.The Baton Rouge minister delves into the spiritual significance of rejection and how it can catalyze growth in his latest book, “Rejected on Purpose” (Liberty House Christian Publishing).”Rejection is undeniably painful, yet I’ve seen it as a transformative force,” writes Maxie, the senior pastor of Liberty Church in Baton Rouge. “It catalyzes personal growth and self-discovery, nudging us beyond our comfort zones to reevaluate our paths and enact necessary changes.”

God uses those rejections to get us to where we need to be and serve as an example for others.”Sometimes, we need rejection to propel us forward — perhaps it was what you needed to start that business or to discover your true calling after being turned away from a church,” he writes. “Have you considered that someone else might be waiting to step into their purpose until they see you step into yours?”

Maxie, a Baton Rouge native and Navy veteran, started Liberty Church along with his wife, Aminga, in 2018.Two impactful passages in his 243-page book illustrate the harsh rejection Maxie endured at the hands of his father. The first is in the introduction when Maxie candidly describes an abusive father who “battled demons.”

“My siblings struggled to heal; some turned to drugs and alcohol while others fell into depression. Our family continues to heal from the damage caused by my father,” Maxie writes.

Another unpleasant memory Maxie recalled was weeks before his father’s death of brain cancer. Maxie’s mother asked his father to tell his son he loved him. “I don’t have a son” was the father’s response.

“Those words pierced my heart and left a deep wound,” he wrote. “I felt so much rejection at that moment and felt like it was the last way he could help me before he passed away. I wanted to heal to keep those wounds hidden.”

One of the most powerful chapters is “The Power of Testimony.” Maxie writes that potent testimonies are important to believers.”(The devil) knows that if he can keep the church disconnected from current stories and accounts of how God is moving, he will keep us in a place of irregular praise,” Maxie writes. “When you have received a testimony, protect it with all your might.”

“Rejection on Purpose” is the second book Maxie has so graciously submitted to me in the past year. Just like “Fool Proof: Strategies for Navigating Life God’s Way,” the new book is full of appropriate biblical illustrations and scripture.

Keep the helpful books coming, Dr. Maxie.

Why Stephen King’s Books Are Banned In Florida Schools

Warner Bros

When a society starts banning books, it’s a sure sign trouble is on the way or has already arrived.
When the Nazis began banning and burning books in 1930s Germany, President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “Books cannot be killed by fire. People die, but books never die.” Viewing the Third Reich as a threat not just to democratic rule but also humanity in general, Roosevelt added, “No man and no force can take from the world the books that embody man’s eternal fight against tyranny. In this war, we know books are weapons.”

It is now 2025 in the United States, and trouble has crossed the threshold and tracked muddy ignorance all over the nation’s living room. What happens next is a source of profound worry for anyone who paid attention to President Donald J. Trump’s campaign promises of prosecuting those who’ve challenged him in government and/or in print. All we can do is wait and see if he follows through on these threats.
In the meantime, we can look to the unsettling rise in book banning across the country as a chilling preview of coming attractions. According to the free-speech advocate PEN America, book bans in U.S. public schools nearly tripled over the 2023-2024 academic year. Meanwhile, a 2024 report from the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom showed a record 4,000-plus unique titles had been targeted for banning the year prior.

One author who’s been under increasing fire from censors is Stephen King. This, sadly, makes sense given that he’s one of the most prolific writers working today, and he specializes in the oft-controversial genre of horror. But some of the King books (many of which have been turned into great movies) that have been removed from public schools, particularly in the currently deep red state of Florida, aren’t horror at all and contain little in the way of objectionable material. So, what gives?

Stephen King is a dangerous proponent of independent thought

United Artists

According to a 2024 Newsweek article, over 60 Stephen King books have been banned from Florida’s public schools. Considering that King has published 65 books to date, that means pretty much all of them are gone from the shelves. To clarify, some counties have banned more King titles than others. For example, Clay County, which includes much of suburban Jacksonville, went above and beyond by removing King’s entertainingly instructive “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft.” Aside from some profanity, I can’t think of a single reason why that book would be harmful to minors.

And that’s really what this is all about. As Deborah Caldwell-Stone of the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom said in 2024, “The rhetoric about book banning right now is built around this falsehood that books touching on sex or gender identity, sexual orientation, or deal with what’s called critical race theory are legally harmful to minors.” The term “legally harmful” is the stretchiest of stretches, and it’s an especially odd charge to level at King’s writing. The man is certainly not a fan of Christian zealotry (starting with his first novel, “Carrie,” which is vital young adult fiction), but when his books get political, it’s usually about social justice or authoritarianism. Questioning authority, however, is anathema to a government determined to impose its proscriptive will on its citizens. This makes King a dangerous merchant of ideas.

What does King think about all of this? When Florida’s banning spree kicked into overdrive, he tweeted, “Florida has banned 23 pf [sic] my books. What the f***?” Later, he reiterated his rule of thumb when it comes to the censorship of literature, “I have said it before, and will say it again: When books are banned from school libraries, run to your public library, or the nearest bookstore, and read what it is your elders don’t want you to know.” Amen, Mr. King.

Book explores epic struggle for racial justice in public schools

BOOK REVIEW“The Containment: Detroit, the Supreme Court, and the Battle for Racial Justice in the North,” by Michelle Adams. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 528 pp. $35.

Michelle Adams is the Henry M. Butzel Professor of Law at the University of Michigan. The former codirector of the Floersheimer Center for Constitutional Democracy at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, she served on the Biden administration’s Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court. Her latest book is “The Containment: Detroit, the Supreme Court, and the Battle For Racial Justice in the North.”

MACMILLAN PUBLISHERS

In 1973, Nate Jones, general counsel of the NAACP declared that Bradley v. Milliken was “the most significant school desegregation case pending in any court in the Nation.”  Upon its outcome, “hinges the fate of Negro and other [minority] children in numerous northern communities around the country.”According to Michelle Adams, a professor of law at the University of Michigan, the litigation had the potential to establish that racial discrimination was grounded in laws and government policies in the North as well as the South and therefore violated the U.S. Constitution. The case provided an occasion for federal courts to integrate schools by knitting together a city and its suburbs.In “The Containment: Detroit, the Supreme Court, and the Battle for Racial Justice in the North,” Adams provides a tour de force account of the epic struggle for racial justice in public schools that was derailed by a conservative Supreme Court.The plaintiffs in Bradley argued that segregation in Detroit’s public schools was the result of mutually reinforcing de jure and de facto discrimination in housing that denied blacks equal rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment, Adams writes. They presented an Everest of evidence that local and state government housing polices discriminated on the basis of race and also “sanctioned, assisted, furthered, bankrolled, enabled and enforced” private discrimination in real estate markets.Twenty years after covenants against ownership or occupancy of housing by Blacks were declared unconstitutional, Title companies in Detroit continued to show them to potential buyers.  Until 1962, the all-white Detroit Real Estate Board in- structed realtors not to introduce “into a neighborhood a character of property or use which will clearly be detrimental to property values…”In a sweeping decision, federal district court judge Stephen Roth indicated that as the white population declined in Detroit and grew in the suburbs, the city’s Black population was unconstitutionally “contained,” residentially and educationally, “by the force of public and private dis- crimination at all levels.”Since the school system in the city was already predominantly Black, he declared, a Detroit-only remedy would not result in actual desegregation and would make the problem worse by increasing white flight. So, Roth mandated a “metropolitan solution,” affecting about 800,000 students from Detroit and 50 nearby suburban school districts, requiring substantial equality in all schools with respect to facilities, staff and extracurricular activities and involving some busing, but no lengthy rides.

Roth’s decision, which was subsequently affirmed by judges on the Sixth Circuit, unleashed a firestorm of criticism, mostly from white subur-ban families, who were apoplectic about the prospect of children being bused into Black ghettoes in Detroit. In the summer of 1974, five justices of the Supreme Court, four of whom (Warren Burger, William Rehnquist, Lewis Powell and Harry Blackmun) had been selected by President Nixon, voted to reverse Judge Roth. In his opinion for the majority, Chief Justice Burger found no evidence of a constitutional violation by the suburban school districts and rejected Roth’s metropolitan remedy.The result, “separate and unequal,” Adams suggests, was an updated twist on an old formula. It marked the end of era, from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s, when desegregation was “often actively pursued.” In the ensuing half century, public schools in the North were re-segregated.Adams shares the “ripples of despair, resignation, bitterness and anger” felt by many Black Americans.  Potential fixes require an “enormous political will” that seems in short supply these days, Adams writes. That said, she sees “forces still pushing for change.”Desegregation wasn’t easy to achieve in the past, Adams concludes, and it isn’t easy now. That said, writing this book has reinforced a lesson she has learned: To win, you have to assemble an inter-racial coalition, be prepared to fight, and as Martin Luther King Jr. advised, “rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.”Dr. Glenn C. Altschuler is the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Emeritus Professor of American Studies at Cornell University.

Jack Cashman Releases His Latest Inspiring Book: “Democracy: The Final Nail” – A Call to Reclaim American Democracy

Jack Cashman Releases His Latest Inspiring Book: “Democracy: The Final Nail” – A Call to Reclaim American Democracy – Book Publishing Industry Today – EIN Presswire

Bookwave Publishing Leads the Charge in Revolutionizing Book Marketing Services

Bookwave Publishing Leads the Charge in Revolutionizing Book Marketing Services – Book Publishing Industry Today – EIN Presswire