On Saturday, September 23, the creator of the ‘Humans Of New York ‘(HONY) storytelling platform, Brandon Stanton, called out ‘Humans of Bombay’ (HOB) for filing a lawsuit against the ‘People of India’ (POI), an online storytelling portal, for copyright infringement.
In a notice issued on Monday, September 18, the Delhi High Court restrained the POI from appropriating HOB’s ‘unique format of storytelling’ and publishing the same. In court for HOB, advocate Abhishek Malhotra stated that the defendant had launched a comparable portal/service with identical content called People of India. He claimed that the defendant copied photographs and videos from HOB’s website and utilised them on its own platform.
Malhotra stated that a comparative table of some of the photos referenced in the application would show that the defendant has completely copied the business model and, in some circumstances, the narrative itself.
Brandon Stanton responded to the lawsuit on September 23 and slammed the founder of HOB, Karishma Mehta, and indicated that the idea of HOB was inspired by HONY. “I’ve stayed quiet on the appropriation of my work because I think Humans Of Bombay share important stories, even if they’ve monetized far past anything I’d feel comfortable doing on HONY. But you can’t be suing people for what I’ve forgiven you for,” he wrote on Twitter (X).
I’ve always loved @HumansofAdam because Debra has stayed so true to the art, and has never viewed the stories that she shares as the “front end” of a business
— Brandon Stanton (@humansofny) September 23, 2023
He also indicated that making business out of people’s stories was not appropriate. “I’ve always loved Humans of Amsterdam because its founder Debra Berraud has stayed so true to the art, and has never viewed the stories that she shares as the ‘front end’ of a business,” he added.
Further, in response to that, the HOB published an official statement addressed to Brandon and said that he was ‘making a cryptic assault on HOB’s efforts to protect their intellectual property rights’.
“It’s shocking that a cryptic assault on our efforts to protect our intellectual property is made in this manner, especially without understanding the background of the case. Before jumping the gun on this matter, you ought to have equipped yourself with the information about the case and also about what HOB is trying to achieve. HOB is all for the power of storytelling. But it should be done honestly and ethically,” the HOB said in its statement.
— Humans Of Bombay (@HumansOfBombay) September 23, 2023
Many people have tagged the HOB owner and asked her to withdraw the lawsuit, recognising that she cannot sue someone for something she has also done.
“This is not done. You must drop the lawsuit. If you’ve taken inspiration from Humans Of New York and they have been kind, you must afford the same liberty to others”, a user wrote.
Drop the lawsuit, repay the kindness https://t.co/H9rYYC6tt9
— Vibin Babuurajan 👋 (@vibinbaburajan) September 23, 2023
Humans of Bombay is an Indian storytelling platform that followed in the footsteps of Humans of New York. Karishma Mehta founded the platform in 2014 as a Facebook Page, and it has since grown in popularity and follower base.
Humans of New York (HONY) is a photoblog and collection featuring street pictures and interviews taken on New York City’s streets.
Humans of New York, founded in November 2010 by photographer Brandon Stanton, has amassed a sizable social media following. Hundreds of “Humans of” blogs have since been created by people in various places across the world who were inspired by HONY.
