Your Postcode Is Royal Mail's IP

You'd imagine this sort of insanity could only happen in the US, but it seems the UK can be equally insane at times. The Royal Mail apparently own the IP rights on your postcode. They've threatened legal action on unauthorized sites who use their feeds to allow people to find postcodes. It turns out that the Royal Mail are paid a handsome fee of £4000 per year for access to this data which many would assume was free, since it's a state monopoly on a public service. This leaves many small organizations unable to find that fee, having to cripple their services to their users, but it's all for the common good right? That's what a public service is for right?

The funny thing is that the Royal Mail and Post Office plead with people "please remember to use the postcode" as it helps them sort mail, and ensures (in theory) that stuff finds it's way to the correct address. I say in theory as it relies on employees being able to read which is not always the case. I've had mail for an address in a different town which came to me because someone had left the postcode off, and whoever looked it up saw the same street name in two towns and picked the wrong one.

If Royal Mail are now clamping down on something that actually helps them, should we all stop using postcodes when we send letters? Just to make a point? We don't want to infringe on their IP do we? For me, this is yet another example of a public service not acting in the interests of the public. This sort of data should be freely accessible by the public, not only in data formats but in licensing use.