The High Court ruled in favor of Ideal Postcodes against GetAddress.io and Lee Paul Smith for unlawful data use.
In a decision handed down today, the High Court of England and Wales has ruled in favour of Ideal Postcodes, confirming that Codeberry Limited (trading as GetAddress.io) and its director, Mr Lee Paul Smith, breached Ideal Postcodes’ terms and infringed its database rights by using the Ideal Postcodes’ service to construct a competing address database.
The High Court found that, from 2015, Mr Smith downloaded a substantial part of the Ideal Postcodes’ address database to construct a competing product marketed as GetAddress.io. The Court found that Mr Smith and Codeberry exploited data obtained under those accounts without authorisation, using it to create and market a rival database. This enabled GetAddress.io to operate in direct competition while avoiding the data-licence fees that compliant providers are required to pay.
The High Court questioned the reliability of evidence provided by Mr Smith. The Judge observed that, as a witness, Mr Smith’s “priority was to say what was required to promote his case rather than assisting the court with fair and accurate evidence” and that the Judge could not assume “evidence given by Mr Smith which has no documentary corroboration is reliable.” The Court held that GetAddress.io and Mr Smith had not complied with key court orders requiring them to provide documents and information about how the GetAddress database was created and maintained, and doubted that Mr Smith’s evidence given in court explaining why he had not complied was both truthful and complete.
The High Court also determined that GetAddress.io and Mr Smith’s infringement fell into the category of cases where it was “deliberate, reckless or couldn’t care less” and Ideal Postcodes is entitled to additional damages that go beyond what is ordinarily awarded.
Accurate and compliant address data underpins essential business operations — from deliveries and billing, to identity verification and regulatory compliance. Discovering that a supplier’s database contains unlawfully sourced data is not simply a technical issue; it exposes organisations to operational, legal, and reputational risk.
The High Court’s judgment validates Ideal Postcodes’ intellectual property rights in its database and confirms the integrity of its data-licensing process, which upholds the rights of upstream data providers and ensures that every customer can rely on their address data with confidence.
"This ruling provides essential market clarity. It underscores the critical importance of trust and transparency, and the need for a provider that understands and respects data licensing. Ideal Postcodes' approach has been validated by the High Court to protect both customers and data vendors, and our focus is on providing the secure and compliant platform our customers need to operate with total peace of mind."
Christopher Blanchard, Founder of Ideal Postcodes
Ideal Postcodes is now assisting organisations affected by GetAddress’s and Mr Smith’s actions, as well as those wishing to review their data supply chain or migrate to a compliant address data solution. If you are impacted by this judgment and have concerns about your address data, please contact us at support@ideal-postcodes.co.uk.
The High Court also determined that GetAddress.io and Mr Smith’s infringement fell into the category of cases where it was “deliberate, reckless or couldn’t care less” and Ideal Postcodes is entitled to additional damages that go beyond what is ordinarily awarded.
The court ruling can be accessed here.