Over the weekend, the Mumbai-based storytelling platform Humans of Bombay made news when it filed a lawsuit against People of India, accusing it of violating its copyright. What followed was a significant scandal that also involved Brandon Stanton, the creator of Humans of New York. The topic has been trending on Twitter as well, with some users sharing jokes and other users condemning Karishma Mehta, the founder of Humans of Bombay.Heres all what happened…The controversy began after Humans of Bombay, a Mumbai-based story telling platform filed a lawsuit against People of India, alleging that the they have been using their unique storytelling format and have been published alike content. Apart from this, the organisation also mentioned that People of India has also their copyright images and videos without their consent.Taking a note on the matter, the Delhi High Court, on September 18, issued a notice to People of India on the same. According to the sources, during the hearing of the case, Justice Prathiba Singh also observed and admitted that there have been substantial imitations and, in some cases, the photos were identical.The next hearing in the case has been scheduled for October 11.Now, the twist in the case came after Humans of New York founder Brandon Stanton made a sharp attack on Humans of Bombay through a social media post, saying, Humans of Bombays format of storytelling is inspired by Humans of New York. The tweet reads, “Ive stayed quiet on the appropriation of my work because I think @HumansOfBombay shares important stories, even if theyve monetized far past anything Id feel comfortable doing on HONY. But you cant be suing people for what Ive forgiven you for.”Ive stayed quiet on the appropriation of my work because I think @HumansOfBombay shares important stories, even if theyve monetized far past anything Id feel comfortable doing on HONY. But you cant be suing people for what Ive forgiven you for. https://t.co/0jZM05YyTt— Brandon Stanton (@humansofny) September 23, 2023This is not all, Humans of Bombay, taking it to their Twitter account took a jibe at Humans of New York, saying, “Perhaps, 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 story telling. But it should be done honestly and ethically. We have sent you an email, requesting a conversation to provide further details.”pic.twitter.com/JcgZOc8A6g— Humans Of Bombay (@HumansOfBombay) September 23, 2023We 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 teams hard work. PFA— Humans Of Bombay (@HumansOfBombay) September 24, 2023
