It's stated in the article that tables of facts/data are not copyright-able.<p>But additionally, aren't publications of the government by law automatically made a part of the public domain?
In the UK MyRailLite were paying for train live departure data. You could look up if a train was delayed and which platform to go to.<p>When the app became successful National Rail pulled their feed and released their own more expensive and clunkier app iPhone instead.