Source: PetaPixel

Ankit Sahni, through his company Suryast U.S. Enterprises LLC, has initiated a lawsuit in the Central District of California contesting the refusal by the U.S. Copyright Office to register an image named “Suryast.” The image merges a sunset photograph taken by Sahni with stylistic elements inspired by Vincent Van Gogh’s The Starry Night and was processed using the RAGHAV app. The Copyright Office declined registration on the basis that there was “not enough human involvement for the artist to claim copyright,” determining that the final image was largely created by the AI application rather than Sahni.

The complaint asserts that Sahni contributed the “baseline creative elements” by personally selecting and taking the base photograph, which established core components such as buildings, the sunset, the sky, and their relative positions. Sahni also claims to have exercised creative control by choosing the Van Gogh style characterized by a specific color palette, broad brush strokes, and curved lines, which were added through the RAGHAV app while retaining the baseline elements. The filing names Shira Perlmutter, in her official capacity as Director of the Copyright Office, as the defendant in the case.