Price Paid Dataset - Third-party Intellectual Property

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Hello,

I am writing to request some information under the Freedom of Information Act.

These questions relate to the Price Paid Dataset, which you are making available for reuse under the Open Government Licence at http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/market-tr.... I am trying to ascertain whether there is any third-party intellectual property in the address information within that dataset that is not covered by the licence.

Specifically, I am trying to find out:

1. To your knowledge, does the dataset contain any information that is copyright Royal Mail, or data over which Royal Mail has a database right?

2. To your knowledge, does the dataset contain any information that is copyright Ordnance Survey, or data over which Ordnance Survey has a database right?

I appreciate it might be hard to give a clear answer to either of these questions because they may venture into areas of legal uncertainty (for example about the extent of Royal Mail's copyright or database rights). Therefore please answer the following:

1. How was the database behind the published dataset first created, specifically:

a. Who created it, when, and from what sources?
b. Was the Postcode Address File from Royal Mail or AddressBase from Ordnance Survey, or any predecessor products to AddressBase, or any products incorporating these products, used as a source of addresses when creating the dataset?
c. Were any of these products used to check, validate or correct addresses from another source when the original database was created?

2. How is the database behind the published dataset updated, specifically:

a. What sources of information are used to update the database?
b. Are updates from Royal Mail or Ordnance Survey used to provide updates to the database?
c. Do you check, validate or correct addresses in updates to the database against either the Postcode Address File from Royal Mail or AddressBase from Ordnance Survey, or any service that uses those databases as its source?

3. Have you taken legal advice prior to making this data available under the Open Government Licence that by doing so you are not infringing third-party intellectual property rights?

I am submitting this request publicly through WhatDoTheyKnow in order to ensure that there is a public, referenceable record of your response.

Thank you in advance,

Stuart Harrison

Petty, Roger, Land Registry

Dear Stuart Harrison

 

Thank you for your email of 11 August 2014 requesting information about
the Price Paid Dataset.

 

Your request is being dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 and will be answered within twenty working days.

 

In some circumstances a fee may be payable and if that is the case, I will
let you know. A fees notice will be issued to you, and you will be
required to pay before we will proceed to deal with your request.

If you have any queries about this letter, please do not hesitate to
contact me.

Yours sincerely

 

 

Roger Petty
Freedom of Information Officer
Corporate Legal Services
Tel 0300 006 7054
Email [email address]

[1]landregistry.gov.uk | [2]@LandRegGov | [3]LinkedIn | [4]Facebook

 

 

Land Registry is the definitive source of information for more than 23
million property titles in England and Wales. Since 1862 we have provided
security and confidence in one of the most active property and mortgage
markets in the world. We are working to support economic growth and data
transparency as part of the Public Data Group. Find out more at
www.landregistry.gov.uk

If you have received this e-mail and it was not intended for you, please
let us know, and then delete it. Please treat our communications in
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Petty, Roger, Land Registry

Dear Stuart Harrison

 

Thank you for your email of 11 August 2014 where you requested
information about the Price Paid Dataset.

I have answered your questions following your numbering. My answers are in
red.

 

1.     To your knowledge, does the dataset contain any information that is
copyright Royal Mail, or data over which Royal Mail has a database right?

2.     To your knowledge, does the dataset contain any information that is
copyright Ordnance Survey, or data over which Ordnance Survey has a
database right?

 

Land Registry is licensed to use Ordnance Survey’s AddressBase through the
Public Sector Mapping Agreement and is a licensed user of Royal Mail’s
Post Code Address File (PAF) through the Royal Mail Public Sector
Licence.  When an application is received by Land Registry, the address
provided is compared against data held within Land Registry’s core
business systems which incorporate elements of both PAF and AddressBase
(previously Address Layer 2 and Address Point).Where the address provided
does not match or is not suitable as a Title Address, we will create an
address accordingly e.g. “land to the North of…..”. Various datasets are
then created from this information (including our Registers of Title)
which are not updated and are in effect a ‘snapshot’ in time. Our Price
Paid Dataset is an example of this – the majority of the data held within
it is over 15 years old.

 

I appreciate it might be hard to give a clear answer to either of these
questions because they may venture into areas of legal uncertainty (for
example about the extent of Royal Mail's copyright or database rights).
Therefore please answer the following:

 

1. How was the database behind the published dataset first created,
specifically:

 

a. Who created it, when, and from what sources?

Price Paid Data has been recorded on the open register since April 2000
and has been recorded by Land Registry since January 1995. Addresses are
taken from documents lodged with Land Registry as part of the registration
process and these are added to data held within Land Registry’s core
business systems. Land Registry has used Ordnance Survey address products
for many years as part of our statutory role in the registration process.

     b. Was the Postcode Address File from Royal Mail or AddressBase from
Ordnance Survey, or any predecessor products to AddressBase, or any
products incorporating these products, used as a source of addresses when
creating the dataset? Land Registry has used and continues to use Ordnance
Survey address products to validate address data supplied to us by
customers and to ensure that our core business systems are up to date.
Ordnance Survey address products contain data from  PAF which we have been
licensed to use through the Ordnance Survey PAF licence and, now, through
the Royal Mail Public Sector Licence.

     c. Were any of these products used to check, validate or correct
addresses from another source when the original database was created? See
(b) above. As explained in (1) above, the Price Paid Dataset is not
corrected once created (unless errors have been reported in the data
contained within the dataset such as ‘date of the Transfer’).

 

2. How is the database behind the published dataset updated, specifically:

 

a. What sources of information are used to update the database?

     b. Are updates from Royal Mail or Ordnance Survey used to provide
updates to the database? Land Registry takes updates from AddressBase at
six week intervals – as previously explained, only our core statutory
business systems are subsequently updated and not datasets such as Price
Paid Data.

     c. Do you check, validate or correct addresses in updates to the
database against either the Postcode Address File from Royal Mail or
AddressBase from Ordnance Survey, or any service that uses those databases
as its source? Land Registry has a process built into its systems to link
new addresses received via the AddressBase to update existing addresses
within our core business systems.

 

3. Have you taken legal advice prior to making this data available under
the Open Government Licence that by doing so you are not infringing
third-party intellectual property rights? Land Registry’s legal team is
integral to the development and release of every Land Registry product and
we do consult with the Information Commissioners Office when necessary. We
are in regular contact with Ordnance Survey and continue to engage with
both Ordnance Survey  and Royal Mail to ensure that we reach agreement,
when necessary, on proposed f Data Releases

 

Yours sincerely

 

Roger Petty
Senior Corporate Information Officer
Corporate Legal and Assurance Services
Tel 0300 006 7054
Email [1][email address]

[2]GOV.UK | [3]@LandRegGov | [4]LinkedIn | [5]Facebook

 

Land Registry is the definitive source of information for more than 23
million property titles in England and Wales. Since 1862 we have provided
security and confidence in one of the most active property and mortgage
markets in the world. We are working to support economic growth and data
transparency as part of the Public Data Group. Find out more at
www.landregistry.gov.uk

If you have received this e-mail and it was not intended for you, please
let us know, and then delete it. Please treat our communications in
confidence,
as you would expect us to treat yours. Land Registry checks all mail and
attachments for known viruses, however, you are advised that you open any
attachments at your own risk.

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Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.

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