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.
