Royal Mail and another company suing software firm Codeberry over alleged unlawful use of postcode data can have their cases tried together, a judge ruled Friday. However, the judge refused to allow Codeberry's counterattack to be included in the same trial.

Royal Mail Copyright Case: Joint Trial Approved

Peter Knox KC, sitting as a judge at the High Court, agreed with a request by Royal Mail and Ideal Postcodes to join their claims against Codeberry. Royal Mail and Ideal Postcodes, an address database licensed by the postal service, both accuse Codeberry of stealing their information for its own database.

The judge said it would be "highly desirable" for the two cases to be tried together because there are "obvious overlaps" between the claims. Both cases allege that Codeberry took postcode data from Royal Mail and Ideal Postcodes to set up a rival database. Judge Knox explained that the databases are used when customers buy goods online and are asked for their postcodes, which provides them with a drop-down menu of possible addresses to ease the checkout process.

Importance of Unified Trial

Judge Knox emphasized that it is appropriate for the two cases to be heard together because they both involve significant questions about copyright and ownership of postcode data. He stressed the importance of avoiding inconsistent judgments on a fundamental question of copyright. Additionally, joining the cases would save the court time and money.

Royal Mail Copyright Case: Exclusion of Counterclaim

However, the judge refused to include Codeberry's counterclaim in this joint trial. Codeberry has accused Royal Mail and Ideal Postcodes of violating competition law. "As the holder of a dominant position in the address updates market, Royal Mail has at all material times owed a special responsibility not to allow its conduct to impair genuine, undistorted competition in the U.K.," Codeberry stated in its counterclaim.

Judge Knox was "not willing to countenance" having the competition allegations included in the upcoming trial, as it would dramatically extend the trial duration. The trial is currently set for eight days, but adding the competition arguments could balloon the hearing to four weeks.

Case Background

The case began when Royal Mail accused software developer Lee Smith and his company Codeberry of copying information from Royal Mail's postal address database — called the postcode address file — on the website GetAddress. Royal Mail alleges that Codeberry and its founder infringed its copyright by "extracting and re-utilising a substantial part … of the contents of the postcode address file." This allegedly gave GetAddress users access to Royal Mail's data without the postal company's permission.

The postcode address file is a complete database of U.K. postal addresses used by Royal Mail for deliveries. Businesses can access and use the address information — and pass it on to other businesses — under licensing agreements with Royal Mail. Codeberry has denied these copyright allegations, claiming its database was independently created from open- and crowd-sourced data and open government datasets from 2013 to 2014.

Royal Mail Copyright Case: Representation

Royal Mail is represented by Jonathan Hill of 8 New Square and Philip Woolfe KC of Monckton Chambers, instructed by Addleshaw Goddard LLP. Codeberry Ltd. is represented by Duncan Macpherson of 1 Essex Court. Full counsel details were not immediately available.