The first Hungarian navigation lawsuit – Térképtár won, Nav’nGo lost

About two years ago, Nav’n Go Ltd., developer of the popular "iGo My way" navigation software, initiated a lawsuit against Térképtár Ltd., the developer of the ÚtInfó navigation software, accusing the later with dishonest market practice. As the suit’s outcome, on July 6, 2009, the Metropolitan Court of Budapest’s Economic Tribunal has ruled out on the first degree Nav’n Go’s claim, and obligated it to repay Térképtar all its incurred legal expenses.

During the two years of litigation, the Court requested council from a legal expert, regarding the issues of product similarities, as inferred by Nav’n Go. Following an exceedingly thorough and lengthy testing period, the expert wrote a professional report, in which it is emphasized that, “there aren’t any display or utilization similarities between the two litigating software”. The examination and lawsuit’s subjects were the ÚtInfó v. 2.3software, developed by Térképtár Ltd. and marketed since 2001, and from the Nav’n Go Ltd. side, an earlier “iGO My Way” navigation software, released in 2006. In its ruling, the Court emphasized that, “namely, as the result of the substantiation proceedings conducted, it can be unequivocally ascertained that, the products involved in the lawsuit do not feature any similarities, and thereby, by developing and distributing its product, the respondent did not infringe any rights attached to the plaintiff’s software, its intellectual property rights, or any other rights belonging to the plaintiff’s juridical person, and furthermore, it didn’t commit any character usurpation through its displayed behaviour. With all these in observance, as per those included in the purview, the Court dismissed the plaintiff’s cause.”
It is Térképtar Ltd.’s opinion that, the Court’s injunction serves as gratification against the accusations brought up by Nav’n Go, and we trust that, henceforth, this precedence-valued, domestic navigation-related lawsuit will bring a relief among our circle of partners, as well.