Delhi High Court: A suit was filed by Humans of Bombay (plaintiff) seeking an injunction against People of India (defendants) restraining the infringement of copyright of content consisting of photographs, literary works forming the basis of the stories, videos and creative expression, which includes the manner of presenting the said stories. Prathiba M Singh., J., held that no copyright can be claimed either by Humans of Bombay or People of India insofar as the images, photographs or videos submitted by the individuals or subjects from own private collections are concerned.
Two storytelling platforms i.e., Humans of Bombay and People of India are in dispute with each other in the present suit. The Plaintiff runs a website called www.humansofbombay.in, and the Defendants run a website by the name www.peopleofindia.io. The Plaintiff’s case is that it owns and operates a storytelling platform called ‘Humans of Bombay’ since 2014 wherein stories from various individuals are uploaded/presented as interviews, write ups, posts, etc. The Plaintiff claims that it engages in substantial research and approaches various individuals who are interested in narrating and sharing their life stories which are then converted by the plaintiff into audio-visual works and uploaded on their respective website and various social media platforms.
It is averred that the plaintiff has a unique method of selecting subjects. After selecting and verifying the subjects, the Plaintiff’s team or contracted writers and authors craft the literary works that make up the stories, which include synopses, captions, and scripts. The plaint avers that the copyrights for all these literary works, produced as works for hire, are owned by the plaintiff. It is further stated that before publishing, written consent is obtained from the subjects, ensuring an agreement between the subject and the Plaintiff for a specified period, preventing others from telling the subject’s story.
The plaint avers that Humans of Bombay, due to its format has become one of the nation’s largest storytelling website/platforms. Humans of Bombay is stated to have successfully partnered with major brands for story sponsorships and calls to action. Additionally, the Plaintiff is stated to be the official storytelling associate for the Rajasthan Royals during the 2023 Indian Premier League season. The plaintiff has also harnessed the platform’s extensive reach to fundraise for significant causes also. As of date, the plaintiff boasts of having 26 lakh followers on their Instagram page, and nearly 10 lakh followers as well as over 750 million views on their YouTube page. The plaintiff’s case is that the defendants have imitated and copied a large portion of the contents from its website. Several of the images were stated to have been replicated. The Plaintiff is also aggrieved by the Defendants’ wrongful/tortious interference in their contracts with the said subjects.
The Court noted that the present case raises the classic issue concerning the idea-expression dichotomy. The settled legal position is that no copyright can be claimed in an idea. However, the expression of any idea cannot be imitated or copied, and if the expression is copied, the same would constitute an infringement of the copyright under Section 51 of Copyright Act, 1957. In the context of the present suit, the idea at the core is of a storytelling platform. There can be no monopoly over the running of such a platform. However, all such platforms that share stories about various individuals/subjects would be attaching/incorporating their own creative ways to communicate and disseminate the said stories, which constitute the expression. Such expression is protectable under Copyright law.
The Court further noted that in a storytelling platform, the aspects that constitute the creative aspects are images, literary content, and the way stories are depicted would be exclusive to the platforms themselves. If any photographs and videos are commissioned by such platforms, then the copyright in the said photographs and videos would vest in the respective platforms, as such content would qualify for protection under the Copyright Act, 1957, literary content i.e., the manner in which a particular story of a subject is written/articulated, is the literary work of a particular author who might have written it and further, subjects could be submitting photographs which form part of their own collection, to different platforms. If such photographs are reproduced by various platforms, then such platforms cannot claim any rights in such content. However, if the photograph is one that is commissioned by the platform itself, then the platform would hold copyright in the said content.
On the aspect that both the plaintiff and the defendant are replicating each other’s photographs/images while communicating stories related to the same individuals, the Court observed that there may be various justifications like common source, common subject, and common settings where the image is clicked etc. Thus, neither of the platforms would be entitled to replicate or imitate each other’s content and images. The platforms also cannot copy or replicate each other’s literary content.
Thus, the Court held that Humans of Bombay and People of India shall refrain from using each other’s copyrighted works i.e., commissioned photographs and literary works such as interview scripts and original pieces written authors on the respective platforms; videos that may have been commissioned by the platforms themselves, the manner of presentation of the stories published by the platforms in respect of a particular subject.
[Humans of Bombay Stories (P) Ltd. v. POI Social Media (P) Ltd., 2023 SCC OnLine Del 6390, decided on 11-10-2023]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
Mr. Abhishek Malhotra, Ms. Srishti Gupta, Mr. Kartikay Dutta, Ms. Ishita Goel, Advocates for plaintiff
Mr. Deepesh Joshi, Ms. Bhavna Vijay, Mr. Prashant Sthapak, Mr. Syed Ashhar Anwar, Advocates for respondents
