High Court dismisses Virtual
Map's appeal
VM failed to explain why its maps had SLA 'fingerprints'
Business Times, The (Singapore)
News – Singapore
March 26, 2008
Author: Chew Xiang
THE High Court yesterday dismissed with costs an appeal by Virtual
Map (VM) against a District Court judgment that its online maps
infringed the copyright of the Singapore Land Authority
(SLA).
Virtual Map (Singapore) provides road maps through its popular
streetdirectory.com website.
Low Chai Chong, lawyer for VM, told BT yesterday the company has
instructed its lawyers to file an appeal with the Court of Appeal
if the High Court gives permission to do so.
'In the interim, VM will also be applying to stay the judgment
pending the appeal,' Mr Low said. If the stay is granted, the maps
can remain on line until the appeal is heard.
In his ruling, Justice Tan Lee Meng said VM had 'failed to
establish why there were innumerable 'fingerprints' of SLA's works
in its maps'.
It also failed to establish that it had created its maps
independently, Justice Tan said.
During the hearing, SLA said numerous phantom details it inserted
into its maps found their way into VM's online maps, which showed
they were substantially copies of SLA data.
For example, SLA had labelled a non-existent building a temple and
placed it beside Block 891A, Woodlands Drive 50 in one version of
its map. This 'temple' showed up on VM's online map.
Even genuine mistakes, such as a wrongly recorded road direction
arrow and mislabelled buildings, were reproduced, Justice Tan
noted.
From 1999 to 2004, SLA granted VM a licence to use its map data to
produce online maps. The agreement was ended in 2004.
SLA took legal action against VM in Oct 2005 when VM continued
displaying maps online that allegedly infringed SLA's
copyright.
Last August, District Judge Thian Yee Sze ruled for SLA, awarding
costs and compensation.
She also ordered VM to destroy or deliver up all infringing
material. VM then appealed to the High Court.
Copyright, 2008, Singapore Press Holdings Limited
