Canada Post — a failing, state-owned Crown Corporation — not only claims a copyright on the database of postal codes (a collection of facts, and not the sort of thing that usually attracts copyright). They also claim a trademark on the words "postal code," and have sent legal threats to websites that use the words factually, to describe actual postal codes.
Canada Post disagrees. The crown corporation now argues that the very term "postal code" is subject to a trademark owned by Canada Post. Anyone using the term "postal code," therefore, does so at their own risk.
"Canada Post has adopted and used Canadian Official Mark POSTAL CODE," the statement of claim reads. "The Defendants have passed off their wares and services as and for those of Canada Post contrary to section 7(c) of the Trade-marks Act."
What this means is Canada Post is changing direction in their lawsuit against Geolytica.
Geolytica has argued since the lawsuit began that they did not copy the Canada Post postal code database, but instead built their own based on the feedback of their own users. They crowd-sourced it. This makes Canada Post's original copyright claim trickier, even if you set aside the facts vs. intellectual property argument.
Canada Post says they hold trademark on the words 'postal code'
