Bhavish Aggarwal, founder of Ola Electric, has finally reacted to the controversies related to its mapping solution and the legal notice that the company received from MapMyIndia. Bhavish Aggarwal termed the actions of MapMyIndia as “opportunistic” and said that such players exist in every sector. He assured that Ola Electric would respond at an appropriate time to the allegations.
PC: Business Standard
Early this month, Bengaluru-based Ola Electric launched Ola Maps as an alternative to Google Maps. The development marked an important transition by the company as it started shifting its operations from Google Maps to its in-house mapping service. The launch of Ola Maps was seen as a strategic move toward technological advancement and a reduction in dependence upon external providers.
The change, however, has not been quite smooth. Parent company of MapMyIndia, CE Info Systems, sent a legal notice to Ola Electric accusing the latter of copying its data. According to the notice, there has been a breach of the license agreement as a result of the co-mingling of the licensed product with a similar competing product, engaging in reverse engineering, and trying to extract or copy the source code from the API of the licensed product by Ola Electric.
It had accused Ola Maps of caching and saving its data, which was against the licensing agreement signed between them in 2021. It also said that the Delhi-based company would pursue appropriate civil and criminal legal action against Ola Electric.
Ola Electric has clearly refuted this accusation by MapMyIndia. The spokesperson stated that they would like to emphatically state that these are false, mala fide, and mischievous accusations. Ola Electric upholds the integrity of its business practices. They will suitably respond to the notice shortly.
The legal tussle could not have come at a worse time for Ola Electric, which is set to make its stock market debut on August 2. According to Aggarwal, the IPO pricing has to be such that it creates a lot of noise amongst investors. The move forms part of a larger strategy by Ola Electric to solicit investment to help in its ambitious growth plans.
Apart from the legal and financial developments, media houses have come up with the verdict that Ola Electric is likely to back out from the production of cars. Aggarwal has clarified that the company neither confirmed nor denied anything, thus leaving an open window for any further announcement.
The legal notice from MapMyIndia and the subsequent response from Ola Electric manifest how competitive and contentious technology and mapping sectors are. When firms wish to innovate and expand offerings, disputes over IP and licensing agreements are going to become common.
This perpetual tussle of Ola Electric with MapMyIndia reflects the challenges and complexity in running a company amidst rapid change in the tech industry. With both firms gearing up for the next steps, how this dispute finally ends will be an interesting watch for many in the industry.
