Re: Geo::Postcode

[prev] [thread] [next] [Date index for 2004/09/03]

Tony Bowden:
> Do you have any references for this? I always assumed that postcodes were
> classed as factual information, and thus unable to be copyrighted per se.

Postcodes aren't factual data - they're an arbitrary (although well
structured) label attached to your location by the Post Office in a big
database called the Postcode Address File. The Post Office owns PAF.

See, for instance,
http://census.ac.uk/cdu/Datasets/Lookup_tables/Postal/All_Fields_Postcode_Directory/Conditions_of_use.htm
particularly the bit about unit postcodes being copyright Post Office.

And also the fact that you need to licence Royal Mail's own postcode-geography
mapping data set:
http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content1?catId=400088&mediaId=1400107
although I've never found anything on royalmail.com about the copyright status
of the data.

I asked Jo Walsh about this and she said not to touch it.

        -- 
        "I find that anthropomorphism really doesn't help me with a place full 
of bugs." -- Megahal (trained on asr), 1998-11-06