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The petitioner alleges that Waze is based on the Freemap Israel community project.
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(L-R) Noam-Bardin and Uri Levine WAZE
Today, Gorodish filed a NIS 500 million ($150 million) lawsuit against Waze, and asked the court to recognize it as a class-action suit. Waze, Shabtai and other co-founders – Amir Shinar, Gili Shinar, and Uri Levine – are listed as respondents. Gorodish claims that $64 million – half the value of Waze’s intellectual property at the time of the sale – of the sale proceeds should go to the community members who created the map and software that underpin Waze.
Gorodish also claims that the software code of Freemap and Waze should be open code and available to anyone who wants to use it as they see fit, as the community that created it said that they intended in advance.
Gorodish claims that Shabtai was a founding member of the community that created the Freemap project, and that he subsequently took the software to found Waze.
Waze spokesman said in response, “We have not yet received the statement of claim. If and when it arrives, we’ll study it and respond accordingly.”
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news – www.globes-online.com