“To the Editor of Wired:

I’d like to share a few clarifications. Maponics hasn’t made any claim on “owning a neighborhood”, as the title provocatively suggests. We simply own a database about neighborhoods. Obviously, this is an active case so for those who want the full details, please read the court filings.

Copyrights

The article portrays Mr. Wahl as believing in the inherent openness of database products. Please consider the facts:

Mr. Wahl is listed as the author on the copyright that he now claims is fraudulent. He was paid to do this work by HomeGain and he signed the agreements to give this product to HomeGain. All we’ve asked is that he live by the terms of the agreement he himself made with HomeGain.

Copyrights protect works, not ideas; here is no dispute that a database of information can be copyrighted. Some may not like this, but I’m not here to argue the merits to society in having a copyright law.

Wahl and HomeGain however, even tried to patent it. A patent would have actually walled-off the ideas and prevented anyone else from creating a similar database. So the altruistic angle presented in the article is far from accurate.

A telling point: Factle itself now claims a separate copyright on neighborhoods – check out city.ask.com, where it now says “Neighborhood data Copyright 2008 Factle Maps Co.”

* A Few Corrections *

This lawsuit is over 1 yr old, filed in October 2007; we have no idea where the November 2008 date in the article came from, nor do we know why this is suddenly of interest to Wired.

HomeGain gave Mr. Wahl 60 days, not 6 months, to continue distributing the data (this was a HomeGain restriction, which Wahl signed and agreed to, and did not involve Maponics).

Mr. Wahl claims to have used offshore workers in Malaysia in late 2007 to create his own neighborhood database so that it was distinct from HomeGain’s work; while Maponics prefers to employ US citizens, Mr. Wahl is clearly not restricted from creating his own work.

Maponics never “threatened” TourSheet and never asked them to stop using “Wahl’s data.” Maponics only asked TourSheet to stop using data that was owned by Maponics.

* What This Really Boils Down To *

No one has ever sought to deprive Wahl of his right to earn a living or even to save the world. But as alleged in the complaint, Mr. Wahl cannot use unfair business tactics against Maponics. These include: — claiming ownership and copyright over a product that he does not own; — violating his HomeGain agreement by distributing the product after the time which he was supposed to stop all distribution; — offering lifetime licenses in violation of his agreement with HomeGain; — destroying the value of the Maponics product.

We are a tiny company, not some big corporation. Maponics now has over 50,000 neighborhoods in its database, showing a real commitment to creating the most robust database available for scientists, city planners, social advocates, as well as businesses. I hope any interested readers will be patient and realize that this article paints only one side of the story.

Sincerely, Darrin Clement, President, Maponics LLC”