Online Street Directory Sued Over Copyrights

A Singaporean travel website has been sued by a board of the Singaporean government over it's use of their maps. Virtual Maps provides online maps of the country using raw data it obtained from The Singapore Land Authority (SLA), which is claiming copyright infringement. SLA, manages land sales and the nation's land survey system.

According to The Singapore Press, Virtual Maps signed seven licence agreements with SLA in 2001. The agreements allowed Virtual Maps to modify the maps, which were then sold or downloaded for a fee.

The company continued displaying its maps on the web after SLA terminated the agreements in 2004. Virtual Maps claims that the license allowed them to create their own maps, using SLA's raw data, and that the license does not require them to destroy their own maps. Virtual Maps also claims that SLA filed suit in order to reduce competition to its own recently launched street directory.