Humans of Bombay vs. People Of India Controversy Escalated Capturing HONY’s Attention: Entire Case Explained
HOB or Humans of Bombay is a popular storytelling platform. HOB has filed a copyright lawsuit against POI, People of India which is an online portal. This incident has sparked a faceoff between Humans of New York(HONY) and Humans of Bombay (HOB). Humans of New York is a platform that is said to have inspired Humans of Bombay.
On 18 September, Monday the Delhi High Court issued notice on a plea against People of India by HOB seeking to stay away from interfering in HOB’s unique format of storytelling. The case is under a single-judge bench, Justice Prathiba Singh.
Meanwhile, Brandon Stanton, the founder of HONY slammed HOB for taking a legal path, publically on social media platforms, X. A user wrote, “Karishma Mehta, 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.”
What is Humans of Bombay Controversy
Humans of Bombay made 6.78 crores of revenue last year's aand 3.2 crores of Profits.
— Drunk Journalist (@drunkJournalist) September 24, 2023
by sharing one story at a time. pic.twitter.com/Bmb0Yid2Ua
The case captured the headlines on 23 September even though the date of the hearing was 18 September in the Delhi High Court. Here, Brandon Stanton, the founder of HONY expressed his disappointment on X and wrote, “I’ve stayed quiet on the appropriation of my work because I think @HumansOfBombay shares 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.”
In response, HOB tweeted and said that Branton “ought to have equipped himself” with minute details of the case and the primary aim of the company before “jumping the gun on the matter”. HOB’s statement read, “It’s therefore 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, it was all for the power of storytelling and it should be done honestly and ethically”.
The statement added, “We believe in the honorable court of India and will request patience for the law to take its course after hearing all facts of the matter.”
In another post, HOB showed it’s gratitude to HONY and its founder Brandon for initiating this storytelling movement. However, the lawsuit filed is related to the IP of HOB’s posts. Thus, it’s not about storytelling at all. Before approaching the issue, HOB also tried to address the issue.
The Case Overview
Humans of Bombay is just another ‘woke’ & ‘cool’ organisation that has been given unnecessary fame by the people. #Watch: mocking & disrespecting the National Anthem is also cool for them. pic.twitter.com/nveqJbZAZC
— Diksha Verma (@dikshaaverma) September 24, 2023
Humans of Bombay filed a lawsuit against POI stating that the latter had published identical content by replicating their unique storytelling format. The plea also involved that POI took videos and images without HOB’s permission.
The primary aim of the lawsuit is to prevent POI from accessing HOB’s copyrighted works like creative expressions, films, literary works, and content published on POI’s YouTube, and Instagram accounts.
Moreover, Justice Prathiba M Singh has issued the next date of hearing on 11 October. While going through the matter, the Judge said that a substantial amount of imitation has been found in both content and images. The advocate associated in this case Advocate Abhishek Malhotra stated that POI, the defendant has replicated the entire business model.
What is Humans of Bombay (HOB)?
In 2014, Humans of Bombay was a simple Facebook page started by Karishma Mehta. The aim was to connect strangers to tell stories and share their emotions with others who are willing to listen. Moreover, it gives a feeling that no one is alone. Currently, this page has become a community of over 3.2 million people. Moreover, PM Modi also follows the official HOB Twitter handle.
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What is Humans of New York (HONY)?
In 2010, Humans of New York was started by Brandon Stanton as a photography project. The aim was to picturise 10,000 locals on New York Streets and create a catacatalogng the same. Meanwhile, he added quotes, statements, and life stories of people while taking their photographs. The project gradually became a photoblog. Currently, HONY has more than 20 million followers.
