'Humans of Bombay' sues 'People of India' over copyright infringement

The lawsuit, however, did not go down well with Brandon Stanton, the founder of Humans of New York, which was established in 2010. On September 23, he slammed Humans of Bombay for the legal action and accused them of copying his own format.

Brandon posted on X, "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 Humans Of New York. But you can't be suing people for what I've forgiven you for."

In response to Stanton's criticism, Humans of Bombay issued an open letter on X the same day, addressing the issue.

The letter 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."

"HoB is all for the power of storytelling, and it 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," the statement further read.

On September 24, Humans of Bombay further clarified on X, “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.”

CNBC-TV18 tried to reach both the parties but did not get any response.

Humans Of Bombay was founded in 2014, by Karishma Mehta and started off as a Facebook (now Meta) page that shared stories of people across Mumbai in a photoblog manner. The platform soon rose to popularity and today has gained over 2.5 million followers on Instagram.