The HOB and POI Uproar- Part 2

The dispute between the Humans of Bombay and the People of India regarding intellectual property has been resolved in a manner consistent with established copyright principles. After receiving a notice, the Defendants presented arguments to refute allegations of copyright infringement. They provided the following defenses:

• Some common images may have been shared by the individuals featured in the stories.
• Certain images were not original works of the Plaintiff but were obtained from a third-party platform prior to their use.
• In some instances, the subjects of the stories directly provided photographs to the Defendants, negating any copyright claim by the Plaintiff.

Subsequently, the Defendants also alleged copyright infringement by the Plaintiff, citing the use of similar images.?

Additionally, the Defendants argued that the concept of a storytelling platform is not subject to copyright protection, pointing out the existence of numerous similar platforms inspired by "Humans of New York." However, the Plaintiff had not claimed any exclusive right to operate a storytelling platform.

The court referenced legal precedents, such as the Eastern Book Company v. D.B Modak and R.G. Anand v. M/s. Delux Films cases, to emphasize the importance of originality in copyright and the non-copyrightability of ideas. Therefore, the court concluded that the idea of a storytelling platform is not eligible for copyright protection, but the creative expression of communicating subjects' stories is copyrightable.

As a result, both parties were ordered to refrain from using each other's copyrightable materials, which included commissioned photographs, interview scripts, literary works, videos, and the manner of presentation. It's important to note that no copyright protection was granted for photographs submitted by the subjects from their private collections.

Once again, the copyright principle of idea-expression separation has been resolved amicably, demonstrating a straightforward application of copyright law from an intellectual property perspective. Despite its straightforward nature, this case garnered significant attention.