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Virtual Map has argued in court in Singapore that it developed its own framework to create its streetdirectory.com maps. However, the Singapore Land Authority maintains that Virtual Map had copied maps created by SLA. The court had ruled in favour of SLA in August, prompting Virtual Map to file an appeal, which reached court last week.

In its appeal, Virtual Map admitted to using SLA data, but only for the purpose of driving around Singapore to collect its own data using GPS.

Lawyers for VM said in their submission that VM staff then developed its own framework or backbone to create the maps.

But SLA's lawyer, Dedar Singh Gill, argued that if this was true, the maps could not contain SLA’s phantom features – errors deliberately placed in the SLA data to detect fraudulent copying.

VM's lawyer, Low Chai Chong, insisted that those were human errors. He reiterated that Virtual Map had gathered its own data to map out its online road networks.

Justice Tan Lee Meng, who is hearing the appeal, said there is no dispute that Virtual Map had collected its own data. However, he questioned whether the company had used it to create its products, or simply superimposed it on SLA's maps. The appeal hearing has been adjourned to a later date

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