What's 'Humans of Bombay' v/s 'Humans of New York' controversy
Founder of the Humans Of New York (HONY) storytelling platform, Brandon Stanton, has called out Indian platform Humans of Bombay (HOB) for filing a lawsuit against People of India (POI), another online storytelling platform, over copyright infringement. This led the HOB to release a statement that alleged Stanton was "making a cryptic assault" against it. Here's all you need to know about this controversy.
Details on HOB's lawsuit against POI
According to The Indian Express, HOB moved the Delhi High Court, seeking directions to restrain POI from appropriating its "unique format of storytelling." Representing HOB, advocate Abhishek Malhotra claimed that the defendant (POI) launched a platform similar to HOB, copied its videos/photographs, and utilized them on its own portal. On Monday, the court issued a notice to POI and said HOB's plea would be heard in the next hearing on October 11.
Stanton calls out HOB founder over lawsuit against POI
Reacting to the copyright lawsuit against POI, Stanton expressed displeasure on Saturday and called out HOB founder Karishma Mehta, indicating that HOB itself was inspired by HONY. "I've stayed quiet on the appropriation of my work because I think [Humans Of Bombay] 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," Stanton wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Check out Stanton's X post here
How HOB responded to Stanton's remarks
In response to Stanton's remarks, HOB published an official statement on X on Saturday. Addressing him, it stated, "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 (Stanton) ought to have equipped yourself with the information about the case and also about what HOB is trying to achieve," HOB added.
Read HOB's full statement posted on X
HOB clarifies reason behind POI case
In a follow-up X post on Sunday, HOB clarified the matter and also expressed gratitude to Stanton and HONY for pioneering the unique storytelling format. "We are grateful to HONY and Brandon for starting this storytelling movement. The suit is related to the IP in our posts and not about storytelling at all," it said. "We tried to address the issue amicably before approaching the court, as we believe in protecting our team's hard work," it added.
