Karishma Mehta
Credit: Karishma Mehta🇮🇳/Instagram
As the legal battle between Humans of Bombay and People of India came to an end, the former's founder Karishma Mehta took to social media and expressed her views on the entire episode. She also mentioned receiving rape and death threats from the public during the controversy.
Humans of Bombay, a popular storytelling platform, had sued People of India for alleged copyright infringement of its content. The case came to a conclusion after the Delhi High Court directed both parties to avoid using each other's copyrighted content. The court also passed a permanent injunction barring People of India from plagiarising Humans of Bombay's content.
In her statement, Karishma argued that her legal battle against People of India was not about inspiration but about "substantial imitation". She also added that she had started her journey after being inspired by Humans of New York, but People of India, she said, plagiarised work, and continued the same even after 16 of their posts were removed by Meta.
''Our legal case, however, was not about inspiration, but in fact, about as the Delhi High Court termed it-"substantial imitation". If there had not been explicit plagiarism at play (where the exact content shot, written and created by us was published on another creator's page), the Indian courts would not have been so willing to listen, let alone issue summons to the party in question," she said in the post.
''The outcome of this case will set a precedent for the creator community, and will hopefully go a long way in safeguarding the original content that creators work so hard to build. And finally, yes, Humans of Bombay is a business; that's something we have never hidden. While some may choose to monetize stories through mediums like books and subscription platforms, we have chosen to do it primarily through meaningful campaigns with partner brands. To this date, what motivates me and my team to work extremely hard is our love for storytelling because we've witnessed how the stories we've told over the last years have had a lasting cultural impact,'' she wrote.
The Humans of Bombay founder further said that she and her team faced bullying, rape and death threats as part of public backlash.
"The public response included bullying and a slew of personal attacks, including death and rape threats towards me, my team and my family. While we did not expect to be vilified to this extent, it will not deter us from continuing to tell important stories that change the narrative, and sometimes, even change lives," she said.