The Canadian post office has given up on trying to use copyright to block the distribution of an independently compiled list of the geography of postal codes.

It is unfortunate that the article uses the term "intellectual property" since that term confuses the issue. It is a mistake to generalize about copyright law and those other laws, since each one is more different from the others than similar.

In the US, this database would be uncopyrightable since it is a mere statement of facts rather than a creative choice of details. Canada should adopt the same principle.