IPO-Bound Ola Faces Legal Action for Allegedly Using MapMyIndia’s Data Without Permission

Ola Electric and CE Info Systems had a data usage agreement that was signed in June 2021.

According to a Forbes India news article, CE Info Systems, the parent firm of MapMyIndia, has served legal notice to soon-to-be public Ola Electric, accusing it of using duplicate data to create OLA Maps.

The media article claimed that Ola had allegedly cached and preserved MapMyIndia's data, combined it with their own, and reverse-engineered the 2021 licensed product.

CE Info Systems stated in its legal notification that Ola Maps was created using its SDKs and APIs, which were copied from private sources.

Ola Electric and CE Info Systems had a data usage agreement that was signed in June 2021. Reverse engineering and co-mingling are forbidden by the agreement and intellectual property rules, according to CE Info Systems.

Ola introduced Ola Maps in early July. We completely removed Google Maps after leaving Azure last month. We used to spend Rs 100 crore annually, but this month, we cut that to zero by switching entirely to our internal Ola maps! Check and update your Ola app as necessary. The Ola Maps API is also accessible on the @Krutrim cloud! Ola CEO and founder Bhavish Aggarwal wrote on X, "Many more features coming soon - street view, NERFs, indoor images, 3D maps, drone maps, etc!"

Ola Electric has established a price range of Rs 72–76 per share and is currently getting ready for its Rs 6,100 crore initial public offering (IPO). Anchor investors will start placing bids on August 1.

Ola Electric said in a statement that it will reply to the legal notice as soon as possible and that it stands by the integrity of its business methods. "Ola Electric would like to respond to the recent assertions made by CE Info Systems concerning purported problems with Ola Maps in comparison to MapMyIndia, which have been covered by the media. The statement said, "We would want to clarify explicitly that these charges are intentional, inaccurate, and deceptive.