Cốc Cốc (a large vietnamese tech company) is not crediting OSM

Cốc Cốc in Vietnam is like Google in the U.S. or Yandex in Russia. They have a map service called Coc Coc Map (https://map.coccoc.com) which takes data almost exclusively from OSM and does not give credit to OSM, and they also used Leaflet without proper attribution as well. Given that this is a fairly large company that resides in a country that does not really respect international IP laws, how should I, as a Vietnamese, deal with this case? Can the Legal Working Group dealt with this case? I have a feeling that they are willfully misrepresenting OSM data as their own data and is profiting a lot from it.


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It appears to me that they’re using OSM data that’s quite outdated. For example, at the intersection of Nguyễn Thái Học and Chu Văn An, just outside the Temple of Literature, the road geometries and pedestrian crossings align with OSM around the time of Kaart’s ground survey in 2019, specifically changeset 72,772,618.

The copyright notice at the bottom credits only “© Cốc Cốc Map 2023”, and I was unable to find any mention of OSM on the site.

The wiki has a page that collects incorrectly attributed maps and outlines a process that mappers sometimes use to get them corrected. This process is not always effective; sometimes naming and shaming can backfire. I guess it couldn’t hurt to ask for a correction, since it’s not like OSM is asking for any royalties. Even if the LWG doesn’t have the ability to demand changes, mappers like you can help to keep them informed about these problems so that future policies can consider the practical realities in countries like Vietnam.

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For start, thanks for investigating and reporting!

You can try writing to them and making them aware that they are obligated to attribute OSM.

I admit that it does not always work even in Europe, but is worth trying and establishes that attempts were made.

Yes, though contact by community would be expected first.

And they have quite long list of things on TODO list and meet for 1h per month.

I see that Lacking proper attribution - OpenStreetMap Wiki lists them already but no contact attempt was made.

(I am on OSMF board and spend significant time on attribution-related work, though I think that far more can be done - in any case help is welcome, vast majority of things I did could be done also without being on OSMF board)