Waze Accused Of Stealing Traffic Data Ahead Of Google Acquisition

A couple of years ago, Google announced that they would be acquiring Waze. It was an interesting purchase given that Google already had Google Maps, but the idea of crowd-sourced traffic data appeared to be a bit too appealing for Google to pass up. Not to mention there were reports that Facebook was eyeing the company as well.

However it seems that at that time, Waze’s product might have been hyped up the wrong way. Recently Waze has found themselves in hot water when a lawsuit was filed against them by traffic information app maker PhantomAlert. According to the company, they claim that Waze had copied PhantomAlert’s database for traffic light information and incorporated it into their own product.

PhantomAlert’s lawyers said, “Without any authorization or consent, Waze copied the PhantomAlert database and incorporated the data into the Waze application.” It has been suggested that Waze might have allegedly stolen the information to beef up its product in order to make it look more attractive to potential buyers of their company.

According to PhantomAlert’s CEO Yosef Seyoum, how he discovered the alleged theft was when some of the fictitious data he planted into the company’s database for testing purposes appeared on Waze. Seyoum was quoted as saying, “When I looked at their map, I started seeing some anomalies. How could my error or watermark show up on Waze’s map?”

The lawsuit is now asking payments for stolen information and additional damages. A spokeswoman for Google has since declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Cellphones, General
Tags: Apps, Google, Legal, Waze