‘Humans Of Bombay’ controversy: Everything you need to know

‘Humans Of Bombay’ has sued ‘People Of India’ for copyright infringement.

Founded in 2014 by Karishma Mehta, HOB is a popular social media platform that shares stories of people from Mumbai. They share the same niche as People Of India, a platform that shares stories of people from India.

‘Humans Of Bombay’ has alleged that ‘People Of India’ have copied their content without authorization, including its logo, tagline, and unique storytelling format. Additionally, according to their plea, POI have used films from HOB’s Instagram account and YouTube channel without permission.

‘Humans Of New York’ Founder Responds:

After hearing about HOB’s lawsuit, the founder of Humans Of New York, Brandon Stanton, responded on X, formerly Twitter.

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. https://t.co/0jZM05YyTt

— Brandon Stanton (@humansofny) September 23, 2023

Brandon made his disapproval clear. He mentions how Humans Of Bombay were seemingly inspired by HONY without facing legal challenges from him and questioned their choice to launch lawsuits against other platforms for supposedly doing the same thing.

The case escalates:

However, ‘Humans of Bombay’ did not take this disapproval lying down and instead posted an open letter to Brandon Stanton on X (formerly Twitter):

pic.twitter.com/JcgZOc8A6g

— Humans Of Bombay (@HumansOfBombay) September 23, 2023

They additionally issued a second post, sharing images of the legal suit with the following statement:

We are grateful to HONY & Brandon for starting this storytelling movement.

The suit is related to the IP in our posts & not about storytelling at all.

We tried to address the issue amicably before approaching the Court, as we believe in protecting our team’s hard work.

PFA

— Humans Of Bombay (@HumansOfBombay) September 24, 2023

‘Humans of Bombay’s’ controversial move has reverberated across social media and the wider Internet. “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,” someone tweeted.

Here’s a closer look at the case, including reactions from social media users:

 

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