Humans Of New York's Nudge, Trolls, Backlash | Row Over Humans of Bombay's Copyright Case Explained

A lawsuit filed by popular digital storytelling platform ‘Humans of Bombay‘ against rival storyteller ‘People of India’ for imitation has triggered a war of words, with New York-based platform ‘Humans of New York’ joining the debate.

So, What is the Row All About?

‘Humans of Bombay’, which was founded by Karishma Mehta, began as a Facebook page, documenting the lives of ordinary Mumbaikars. The platform’s USP was its focus on human interest stories that it showcased in a photo-blog format. Over the years, as its popularity rose, ‘Humans of Bombay’ gained over two million followers.

The latest row erupted when the portal sued ‘People of India’ — a similar storytelling platform — over copyright infringement, alleging that it copied its content, logo, tagline, and storytelling format.

HoB filed a lawsuit in the Delhi High Court seeking damages and an injunction to prevent PoI from using its content. On September 18, the Delhi High Court issued a notice to PoI, expressing concern over the allegations.

Founder of ‘Humans of New York’ Weighs In

The lawsuit, however, did not go down well with Brandon Stanton, the founder of ‘Humans of New York’, who slammed HoB for the legal action and accused them of copying his own format.

“I’ve stayed quiet on the appropriation of my work because I think @HumansOfBombay shares important stories, even if they’ve monetised 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 in an X(formerly Twitter) post.

Stanton also received support on social media as several users called out Mehta for appropriating his format and monetising it.

“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,” wrote a user.

“The audacity of @Karishma_Mehta5 to copy your work, make money out of it with sponsored deals and then go on to sue someone for copyright infringement. It’s the pot calling the kettle black,” another user wrote.

‘Humans of Bombay’ Reacts

In response to Stanton’s allegations, HoB posted an open letter on their X (formerly Twitter) handle on September 23.

In the letter, HoB expressed “shock” over a “cryptic assault on our efforts to protect our intellectual property is made in this manner, especially without understanding the background of the case”.

Further, addressing the lawsuit at hand, HoB stressed that “storytelling should be done honestly and ethically. We believe in the honourable court of India and will request patience for the law to take its own course after hearing all facts of the matter”.

In a follow-up post on Sunday, HoB 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.