• Source:JND
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Humans Of Bombay, a storytelling platform has recently filed a lawsuit in the Delhi High Court against a similar online portal that shares stories of people from India, People of India (POI), for copyright infringement.

Following this, the Delhi High Court issued a summon to the People of India in response to the plea. The court has scheduled the next hearing for October 11. The plea mentioned that People of India (POI) violated the copyright by using films from Humans of Bombay's Instagram account and YouTube channel without seeking permission.

It reportedly claimed that People of India has also copied HOB’s unique storytelling format without authorisation. Humans of Bombay was started as a Facebook page in 2014 by its founder Karishma Mehta.

Following this, Humans of New York (HONY) founder Brandon Stanton took to X, formerly Twitter, and shared his opinion on the matter.

In his tweet, Brandon mentioned how Humans of Bombay (HOB) drew inspiration from HONY without facing any legal challenges. He further questioned the lawsuits filed against other platforms.

“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 on X.

Brandon’s tweet has garnered global attention and it received mixed reactions from netizens.

However, in response to Brandon’s tweet, Humans of Bombay (HOB) issued two posts on X. "Dear Brandon, As with the hundreds of Humans of chapters around the world, we love and understand the power of storytelling. 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,” HOB wrote.

"Perhaps, before jumping the gun on this matter, you ought to acquaint yourself with the information about the case and also about what HOB is trying to achieve. HOB is all for the power of storytelling. But it should be done honestly and ethically. We have sent you an email, requesting a conversation to provide further details. We believe in the honourable court of India and will request patience for the law to take it's own course after hearing ALL parts of the matter. Best, Humans of Bombay." the storytelling platform further added.

In another tweet, Humans of Bombay shared images of a legal suit and clarified that the lawsuit is not about the storytelling.

"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."

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