MapmyIndia has issued a legal notice to Ola Electric, accusing Ola of copying its data just days after Ola launched its mapping service – Ola Maps – in India. MapmyIndia alleges that Ola Electric has violated its license agreement, which was signed in 2022 when Ola Electric partnered with MapmyIndia to provide navigation services for the S1 Pro electric scooter. The agreement reportedly prohibited Ola from combining the licensed product with another competing product, engaging in reverse engineering or attempting to extract or copy the source code from any API of the licensed product or related software. MapmyIndia claims that Ola Maps has copied its mapping data, which violates the licensing agreement signed in 2021.

India Today Tech has reached out to both Ola Electric and MapMyIndia for a statement. We have not yet received a response from either of the companies.

MapMyIndia’s parent company CE Info Systems is taking both civil and criminal legal action against Ola Electric. Forbes India first reported the development.

In the first week of July, Ola made headlines for ditching Google Maps and Microsoft Azure, opting for its own Ola Maps to save costs and provide India-first services. Ola’s decision to transition from Google Maps to Ola Maps was aimed at achieving significant savings that will reduce annual costs by Rs 100 crore. CEO Bhavish Aggarwal said that at the time of launch, the company was previously spending Rs 100 crore every year on Google Maps, but now they have completely eliminated this expense by adopting their own mapping service, Ola Maps.

In 2004, MapMyIndia introduced the country’s first portal with the launch of MapmyIndia.com, which provides interactive maps, local search, and directions. By 2007, they unveiled the All India GPS Navigator, which became a popular navigation device for many cars in India. Over the years, MapMyIndia expanded its offerings to include navigation solutions, real-time traffic updates, and location-based services. Their digital maps cover more than 7.5 million kilometers of road network and 10 million points of interest across India.

The clash between MapmyIndia and Ola Electric underlines the competitive nature of the digital mapping industry in India. MapmyIndia, a long-standing player in the market, is defending its proprietary data and intellectual property, which it feels is being infringed by Ola Electric. Ola Electric is a company that has expanded rapidly in the electric vehicle market and now in digital mapping.

As Ola Electric tries to reduce costs and increase its technological autonomy, the company’s move from Google Maps to its own mapping service is a strategic move. However, this has led to conflicts with existing partners and competitors.

Interestingly, just days after Ola Electric launched its Maps in India, Google responded by reducing developer prices by 70 percent. This also reflects the impact of new competition on established players in the industry.