IP Law Daily, COPYRIGHT NEWS: Mapping company says outdoor tech firm copied its Florida boating charts, (Apr 4, 2025)

By Steven Melendez

ISLA Mapping alleges Johnson Outdoors infringed copyright on its Florida Marine Tracks digital maps.

ISLA Mapping, LLC, the makers of fishing-friendly digital maps known as Florida Marine Tracks, sued Johnson Outdoors Marine Electronics, Inc., alleging the company infringed its copyright by cloning its maps (ISLA Mapping, LLC v. Johnson Outdoors Marine Electronics, Inc., No. 6:25-cv-00583-JSS-LHP (M.D. Fla. Apr. 3, 2025)).

ISLA Mapping has made the marine maps for more than a decade, selling charts of waters off the northern and southern coasts of Florida, as well as Louisiana, according to the complaint in the case. Founder Glenn Housman builds the maps from a mix of aerial and satellite maps and his own navigation of routes shown in the product, according to the complaint.

“Based on actual on-water navigation, Housman has detailed safe boating tracks that carefully identify and traverse the precise location of dangerous obstacles, including flats and bars, shallow water navigational posts, stakes, signs, submerged rocks and debris, etc., many of which are not found on any other conventional navigation charts,” according to the complaint.

The maps are available for use on a variety of boat charting equipment, and ISLA Mapping registered the copyright in the charts with the U.S. Copyright Office on March 12, 2025, according to the complaint.

Housman and representatives of Johnson Outdoors discussed making the maps available in Johnson Outdoors' Humminbird GPS units, but Johnson Outdoors cancelled planned meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic and never met with Housman afterward, according to the complaint.

But, ISLA Mapping alleges, in early 2025, Johnson Outdoors launched a product called Humminbird CoastMaster Premium Florida V2, which is a memory card that can be loaded into its GPS units featuring “precisely verified Florida boat lanes” that ISLA Mapping says were copied without permission from its own maps. The Humminbird website uses the term “Florida Boat Lanes” in advertising the products, claiming the maps show water depth data on routes to “elusive fishing holes” in the area.

“Notably, the Infringing Work is by far the most expensive mapping chip available through the Humminbird® website,” according to the complaint, which includes side-by-side comparisons of charts ISLA Mapping alleges were copied by Johnson Outdoors.

“The side-by-side comparison demonstrates the substantial similarity between the two,” complaint asserts. “For example, in each screen shot there are numerous tracks that have an arbitrary shape, length and location, and for which the ‘Boat Lanes’ in the Infringing Work are identical or nearly identical.”

The complaint includes claims for copyright infringement and unfair competition, and ISLA Mapping asked the court to find Johnson Outdoor liable for copyright infringement, issue an injunction barring further infringement, and award damages, costs, and attorney fees.

The Case is No. 6:25-cv-00583-JSS-LHP.

Judge: Sneed, J.

Attorneys: Ryan Thomas Santurri (Doppelt & Gilchrist, PA) for ISLA Mapping, LLC.

Companies: ISLA Mapping, LLC; Johnson Outdoors Electronics, Inc.

News: Copyright TechnologyInternet FloridaNews